Paris attacks - day 3: Live coverage'It does look like a war': Malcolm TurnbullTurnbull should 'close our borders', says Nationals state MP
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has defended Australia's border security policies in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, but has emphasised Australia is in a very different position to Europe after a NSW Nationals MP called for the country's borders to be closed.
And as Defence Minister Marise Payne and Mr Dutton pushed back at calls to close the border, former prime minister Tony Abbott suggested that as Immigration Minister Mr Dutton should be part of cabinet's national security committee -  as had been the case when he was prime minister. 
Mr Dutton said on Monday "we aren't going to rush" the processing of 12,000 refugees affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq because the government would not compromise on security checks of the incoming refugees.
The refugees were expected to arrive in Australia by Christmas.
"We are being prudent and in fact the government was criticised only last week for the fact that we are doing these security checks so stringently," Mr Dutton told radio station 2UE.
"We're just not going to rush.
"If the program time is blown out, it's blown out because we want to make sure we can be assured as to who is coming to our country and the government is not going to step back from that position."
Mr Dutton's comments come after Mr Abbott warned at the weekend that the Paris attackers could have been hidden among the influx of refugees fleeing Syria into Europe.
And Nationals MP Andrew Fraser, a senior member of the NSW Coalition government, used a Facebook post on Sunday to call on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to "close our borders" to Middle Eastern and Muslim refugees.
Both Mr Dutton and Senator Payne used interviews on Monday to stress that Australia was in a different situation to Europe with regards to refugees.
"Obviously the 12,000 refugees, we're talking about people who are fleeing from the Assad regime, or fleeing from ISIL themselves ," Mr Dutton said.
"It's a different situation for us because we've got...an island nation, we don't have the land borders that some European countries do.
"But it is absolutely essential, we must know whether they come by air, or whether they come by boat, who's coming across our borders, in and out and we need to continue that strong stance and I think people recognise that."
Mr Dutton said Mr Turnbull was also reviewing whether he should be reinstated as a permanent member of the government's national security committee.
"The PM made it clear that it was under review and I think that's perfectly reasonable so no doubt I'll consider that in the coming days and weeks," he said.
In an apparent swipe at his successor, Mr Abbott highlighted the fact that the immigration minister, under him, had been a member of the key decision-making body.
"Certainly when I was the prime minister, the minister for immigration and border protection was a member of the national security committee," he told 2GB.
"In the end it is up to the prime minister to decide who should be the member of all the various committees of cabinet.
"The minister for border protection is, in my judgment, a significant part of our national security machinery.
Mr Turnbull, Julie Bishop, Warren Truss, George Brandis, Scott Morrison and Senator Payne and Arthur Sinodinos comprise the current NSC.
Senator Payne told the ABC's AM program Australia could look at increasing the number of Australian forces involved in military operations in Iraq.
"Yes, those discussions are certainly possible and I will be dealing with the Prime Minister as he returns to Australia in due course," she said.
"We will take advice from the chief of the defence force and senior officials to determine the best way forward."
But she would not "pre-judge" whether the role played by Australian defence personnel would change from their current status which is restricted to advising and assisting Iraqi forces.
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