Abbott to host roundtable on Syria

Tony Abbott will meet with resettlement groups and ethnic community leaders to discuss a smooth transition for Syrian crisis refugees.

The government has announced Australia will take 12,000 women, children and families mostly from United Nations camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, on top of the existing 13,750 people in the refugee and humanitarian program.

The prime minister will chair a meeting in Canberra on Friday with resettlement service providers, ethnic community leaders and religious groups to discuss how to best integrate the new arrivals.

He will be joined by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison and parliamentary secretary Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

"I will be talking about exactly what we need to do to ensure that people coming to Australia from the conflict zone can swiftly and effectively integrate into our country," Mr Abbott said in a statement on Thursday.

The resettlement program is expected to cost about $700 million over the next four years.

The first of the new intake of refugees are due to be resettled by Christmas after health, security and other checks.