"Given the plight of Christians, I think a very strong case can be made that Christians should be prioritised … it should be based on need." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said war victims were not confined to a particular religion. Credit:Andrew Meares His comments followed ABC reports that government backbenchers had sent a blunt message to Prime Minister Tony Abbott on refugees: "No more Muslim men." But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said war victims were not confined to a particular religion. "If you're a woman facing terrible crimes committed against you, if you're a child, a little child potentially drowning at sea, I'm not interested in their religion, I'm interested in their safety," he said.

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles said Mr Abetz's comments were "really dangerous … and they would take our immigration program in a very different direction". Not backing off super reforms: former cabinet minister Eric Abetz. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Of course there are persecuted Christian minorities, but there are persecuted minorities of a range of faiths and there are also people who are fleeing war from a range of different religions," he said. "At the end of the day it is really important that we maintain a principle of having a non-discriminatory immigration policy." Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles on Tuesday. Credit:Andrew Meares

He said the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, was the "global arbiter" on which refugees most urgently needed resettlement. "These sorts of comments, which imply a religious bias in the way we go about things, I think, [are] very concerning," Mr Marles said. Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie. Credit:Andrew Meares The ABC on Tuesday reported that the government wants to restrict any intake of Syrian refugees to largely Christian minorities. A government backbencher was reported as saying some Coalition MPs were telling Mr Abbott "no more Muslim men" should be accepted as refugees.

Illustration: Ron Tandberg The debate came as Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie told Parliament during question time on Tuesday that Australia's refugee intake was "shameful" compared to other nations. The government claims that on a per capita basis, Australia takes more refugees than any other nation – an argument also made previously by Labor. This statement is true of the refugees accepted through the UNHCR resettlement programs, which represent a minuscule proportion of refugees resettled globally. But Mr Wilkie said taking into account resettlement avenues outside the UNHCR, Australia was 27th in the world "not [number] one or two".

He said based on GDP and raw numbers, Australia ranked 46th and 22nd respectively. "We are the 12th largest economy in the world, we do indeed have boundless plains to share. If there is one country in the world that has the capacity to do much more … it is Australia," he said. Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday suggested Australia could temporarily house thousands of Syrians fleeing the civil war, as it did for the Kosovars in 1999, but the refugees would not be allowed to apply for permanent asylum. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Tuesday said Syrian refugees deserve permanent safety "and a chance to rebuild their lives in Australia, which they'll never get with temporary protection".

Loading "Australia is big enough and strong enough to give people safety on a permanent basis and that's what we should be aiming for," she said. Follow us on Twitter