The number of Afghan refugees able to come to Australia on humanitarian visas following the Taliban takeover won't be restricted, according to the prime minister.
Scott Morrison told parliament the 3000 humanitarian places for those fleeing Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban government was a minimum.
"If there are more that we can take this year, we will take them. I'm not putting a cap on how many we can take," Mr Morrison said.
"We have been identifying additional people where they've been able to take themselves to a place, able to leave Afghanistan, and we've been able to bring them here to Australia as well.
"We'll continue to do this, and we'll not be restrained by what the current cap is on the refugee and humanitarian program."
The government announced in August 3000 humanitarian places would be allotted to Afghan nationals, out of the more than 13,000 allotted each year.
A Senate committee recently heard how more than 26,000 applications had been made by Afghans to the federal government to settle in Australia.
About 4100 people were flown out of Afghanistan on Australian evacuation flights.
Labor had called on the government to guarantee the safety of Afghan nationals who worked alongside Australian troops in the Middle Eastern country, with many still stranded.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said Australia had a commitment to protect Afghans, with many being actively targeted by Taliban forces.
"We demonstrably didn't do enough earlier, and I wish we had," Senator Wong told ABC Radio National on Thursday.
"We had an overriding obligation."
The comments came after reports a former Afghan army officer who worked as an interpreter with the Australian Defence Force was executed by the Taliban.
His family had been waiting for a humanitarian visa to come to Australia at the time, and are now in hiding.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke previously said he didn't want to comment on the case directly, citing security concerns, but indicated the government was working to ensure the safety of Afghan nationals.
