Mr Turnbull speaks during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week. Credit:Frank Franklin With the exception of Syria in particular, he asserted that the UN has performed remarkably well. "Over the past five years, the UN system has produced a global Arms Trade Treaty, a pivotal global agreement on climate change, a transformational set of Sustainable Development Goals, and a global blueprint for disaster-risk reduction." While Tony Abbott was dubious, Mr Turnbull is an unrestrained enthusiast, branding the UN's field presence in deprived and strife-torn areas, "hugely important work". "Whether it be vaccinating children, helping subsistence farmers to improve their crop yields, facilitating democratic elections or delivering emergency humanitarian support, they demonstrate the approach we need to take as we face the challenges of the future," he said.

Malcolm Turnbull speaks during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Credit:AP But he also argued that more needs to be done on a plethora of problems, from the security threat to combating a new protectionism – including in the clamour for anti-Muslim immigration policies and for religious profiling proposed by Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson – neither of whom he named. "We need strength – to respond firmly and decisively in the face of tyranny and abuse; to stand up to those who would seek to divide societies through terror, and against those who seek to exploit desperation to their benefit," he said in a diplomatic slap at the Trump agenda. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks as US President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden listen at the Leader's Refugee Summit on Tuesday. Credit:AP "We need compassion – to assist those less fortunate than ourselves; and to help rebuild communities that have been devastated by war or natural disasters.

"And now, more than ever, we need to work together towards common solutions." The Prime Minister named the proposed international caliphate of Islamic State (also called ISIL and Daesh) and the nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula as the most pressing challenges for the international community. His address, which in many ways was in lock-step with the positions of the progressive Obama Administration, came as Americans looked to be turning increasingly to the right after the terrorist attacks in New York and other states in recent days. The populist Mr Trump has leapt on the bombings to depict the US border protection system as weak and cowed by political correctness. He has called for swift and severe justice for the bomber, as well as much more vigorous profiling of prospective migrants, and a complete ban on migration from countries with extremist views - essentially therefore, on Muslims. And it seems Mr Turnbull and Barack Obama are fighting a losing battle.

A new Essential poll released on Wednesday found 49 per cent of Australians now support a ban on Muslim immigration, including 60 per cent of Coalition voters, 40 per cent of Labor voters and 34 per cent of Greens voters. The most common factor were fears over terrorism, and a belief that Muslim migrants do not seek to integrate into society nor share Australian values. The poll was first conducted in early August and then repeated to ensure it was not a rogue. "It's too a big a number to say it's an unrepresentative rump that should be shunned from polite society," Essential pollster Peter Lewis told Fairfax Media. Mr Turnbull remained determined to push for tolerance and to argue for the potential for the UN to build global security, and climate policy. Loading

He did however, in an interview with Sky News overnight, back criticism of the UN's role in the Syrian conflict, agreeing with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key that the Security Council had failed to respond the crisis early enough to prevent tragedy. "You've got to judge political actions by their outcome, and all of the resolutions, all of the efforts have failed to produce the settlement that we need in Syria," Mr Turnbull said.



"But of course the Security Council is an institution, the real challenge is for the particular powers and, of course, the two leading powers in the Syria conflict, the United States and, of course, Russia, have to reach agreement."