SYDNEY: Australia announced further tough reforms to its asylum-seeker policy on Wednesday, saying refugees should have to prove a higher risk of danger than before to avoid being sent home.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the changes would also put the onus on asylum-seekers to prove their claims, while visas would be denied to people who threw away their documents.

“Australians need to be confident that those who are found to be refugees are in fact who they say they are,” he said.

“And that if asylum seekers do not cooperate with the government to establish their identity they should not be given the benefit of the doubt. “

Australia has toughened its policy on asylum-seekers in recent years, with those arriving on unauthorised boats now refused residency in Australia even if they are deemed refugees.

Instead they are held in detention camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and are expected to be resettled in those countries if their claims are found to be valid.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014