Anglicans call for asylum for Iraqis

Christians fleeing violence in Iraq should be offered asylum in Australia, the new head of the Anglican Church in Australia says.

Archbishop Philip Freier will be inaugurated as the Primate of Australia on Wednesday evening and has used the occasion to call on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to aid people in Iraq.

"I have asked him to emulate France in offering asylum to the Christians of northern Iraq, who are facing forced conversion or death," Archbishop Freier said on Wednesday.

He has also made an appeal through Anglican Overseas Aid for people to donate to help people who had fled their homes.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in Melbourne for Archbishop Freier's inauguration, said the international community should document the human rights abuses in northern Iraq so those responsible could be prosecuted.

"What is happening right now in northern Iraq is off the scale of human horror," Archbishop Welby said.