Take heat out of boat arrivals debate: UN

The debate on boat arrivals to Australia needs to be much calmer and a lot less polarised, the head of the UN's refugee agency says.

Australia's intake of 6000 asylum seekers a year is not a big problem compared to the intake of other countries, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, told the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Tuesday.

"Compared to the refugee problems in other regions of the world, it is my belief that this debate has been very politicised and is out of proportion ... as the number of people coming to Australia are small by world standards," Mr Guterres said.

"States have the right and indeed the obligation to manage their borders responsibly but this needs to be valued in a way that is protection sensitive and does not preclude those who need protection from seeking it.

"... I would prefer the debate to be much calmer and much less polarised as I witness it is in Australia."

Mr Guterres is in Australia for talks with the government and the opposition, with mandatory detention and onshore processing central to the discussions.

He said he had expressed his concerns about mandatory detention and the effects it has on asylum seekers with the government.

"National security concerns might justify a limited period in which the movement of asylum seekers needs to be controlled," Mr Guterres said.

"Nonetheless, the negative impact that prolonged mandatory detention has on these people is well known and documented."

He welcomed the government's move to release some asylum seekers, including children, into the community on bridging visas and he praised the "clear, positive efforts towards multiculturalism" in Australia.

"We cannot reduce our relationship to the discussion of the boat people," Mr Guterres said.

He pointed to Australia's high support for humanitarian aid, its resettlement program which is the biggest per capita in the world and its "extremely successful reintegration policy to those refugees in Australia".

"Fears about rejected floods of refugees in industrialised countries are often vastly overblown ... and those fears can all too easily manifest into statements or acts of xenophobia against foreigners," he said.

"With that in mind, I encourage all of those involved in public discourse in this country to approach the issue of refugees and asylum seekers with a sense of balance, perspective and compassion for those who are less fortunate."