Australia and Poland have refused to support a pact designed to improve global co-operation on migration, joining populist governments in the US, Hungary and Austria in opposing the UN\u2019s accord.<\/span><\/p>\n Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s prime minister, said on Wednesday that the UN agreement would compromise the government\u2019s hardline immigration policy and risked encouraging \u201cillegal entry\u201d into the country and helping people smugglers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would never allow something to compromise our borders, I worked too hard to ensure that we weren\u2019t in that position,\u201d said Mr Morrison.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis Global Compact on Migration, it\u2019s not a good deal. We\u2019re not going to sign up to it because I believe it would compromise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Australia\u2019s rejection of the pact follows a further hardening of immigration policy by its conservative government, which oversees one of the toughest asylum policies in the world by detaining refugees on tiny islands in the South Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n Canberra is also preparing to cut legal migration, signalling this week it would reduce the annual immigration cap by 30,000 people to 160,000. Warsaw said the UN pact failed to meet demands regarding its right to determine who it accepted into its territory and over the distinction between legal and illegal migration.<\/span><\/p>\n Legal experts say both governments\u2019 concerns about the practical effects of the pact are misplaced as it is not legally binding. But the growing number of countries rejecting the pact is a symbolic blow to UN efforts to co-ordinate a response to a global migration crisis, in which a record 68.5m people were displaced from their homes last year.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe global compact on migration does not impose new legal obligations on states and is not an international treaty,\u201d said Guy Goodwin-Gill, law professor at University New South Wales.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTo say otherwise is utter nonsense or intentional disinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The pact outlines a set of principles and policies to help governments manage people flows and better protect migrants. It has been negotiated by international governments over 18 months and is due to be adopted in December. <\/span><\/p>\n Continues \u2026<\/span> https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/88a475c6-ed37-11e8-89c8-d36339d835c0<\/a><\/p>\n