"We have always been a good global citizen. Always have been, always will be <…> this is doing that right thing by Australia, and it's doing the right thing by the world," Abbott said at a press conference, as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
According to the media outlet, last year Australia took in 4,440 Syrian refugees, out of 13,750 asylum places.
According to UN estimates, some 7.6 million people have been internally displaced in Syria and another 4 million are living as refugees outside the country as a result of the four-year-long civil war between the government and opposition forces.
This year, several European countries pledged to take in thousands of Syrian refugees.
Australia has been facing growing criticism from human rights advocates over the treatment of asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores in search of refuge.
Refugees, including young children who come to Australia seeking asylum, are settled in offshore detention camps at the nearby island of Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, which had been criticized by rights groups for inhumane living conditions.
