ASYLUM-SEEKERS Australia will come under strong pressure to take more refugees from Syria, according to one of the largest migration organisations.
The Migration Council of Australia said this was likely to happen despite the fact that "some fringe groups" would seek to use the Paris attacks to argue against this. 
Migration Council chief executive Carla Wilshire said the "viciousness" of the Paris attacks drew attention to the nature of the violence that families from Syria were fleeing. "I think most Australians understand that the refugees we are helping are victims of the same enemy; their plight is our plight," she said.
"There will be strong pressure on Australia to resettle more than 12,000. We are capable of resettling many more families and I think there is a willingness to -increase our intake.
"One of the outcomes of Paris will be a greater emphasis on planned resettlement in countries like Australia. I think our increased global leadership also means a greater role in assisting through resettlement." Since the Paris attacks there has been a strong reaction in -Europe against the wave of refugees arriving from Syria.
Several political parties on the Right have called for an end to the intake of refugees.
The US congress voted to suspend the Obama administration's plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees. It voted that the screening of any refugees should be so -thorough that FBI director James Comey should be able to vouch for each one. The suspension was led by -Republicans but 47 Democrats also voted for it. In response, President Barack Obama said: "The idea that somehow they (refugees) pose a more significant threat than all the tourists who pour into the US every single day just doesn't jibe with reality." Ms Wilshire said the 12,000 Syrian refugees Australia had committed to resettle would undergo rigorous security and health checks and "we operate a world- class resettlement program that all Australians should be proud of".
"Europe is grappling with the worst humanitarian crisis of our times, the movement of people is continuous and the pressures on governments are constant," she said. "The security pressures in -Europe are different. It will be a tragedy if the fallout from these -attacks is the -re-victimisation of Syrian families or the recall of -humanitarian goodwill." Ms Wilshire said most Australians appreciated that Syrian refugees were fleeing the same terrorist threat as the one which undertook the Paris attacks.
She said it was concerning that "some fringe groups" would seek to use the Paris attacks to argue against refugees."Just as it is important that the threat of terrorism is not allowed to undermine our freedom, it is also critical that we do not allow it to compromise our humanitarian values," she said.