The head of the UN's refugee agency says the refugee debate in Australia is often inflated, as the number of refugees reaching its shores is modest compared with some other nations.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres says the UNHCR preference is for asylum seekers to be processed in Australia.
Mr Guterres, in Australia for talks with the government and opposition, also said detention of asylum seekers should be the exception rather than the rule.
He also said UNHCR did not believe "pushbacks" - the practice of turning asylum seeker vessels back, as proposed by the opposition - were a solution and they clearly violated the refugee convention.
Mr Guterres said 6000 people came to Australia last year, whereas 58,000 travelled to Italy and Malta and 100,000 to Yemen.
"This is a global problem in which the numbers in Australia are still relatively small," he told ABC TV.
"That is why we believe that this debate has some times been inflated out of proportion with the reality of the problem."
Mr Guterres said he held open and constructive discussions with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, government ministers and the opposition, with mandatory detention and onshore processing central to talks.
He said he was very encouraged with the openness in discussions.
"Detention is the area in which we would like improvements to be made in the sense that detention should be more an exception and less a rule. I saw a commitment of the government to look seriously into that," he said.
"Another issue that was discussed has to do with the security assessments and in order to make the process be quicker and to introduce some checks and balances."
Mr Guterres said Australia was an important pillar of the international asylum system, receiving 750,000 refugees.
"Australia has one of the most successful, if not the most successful program in the world, with large numbers of people being successfully integrated into the Australia society," he said.
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