16 April 2010 01:23 am
He said more and more applications were likely to be rejected as the security situation continued to improve.
Responding to caller Sarah from Sydney, who said she was a Tamil who had fled Sri Lanka because of systematic persecution, Mr Rudd said the overall policy hadn't changed and those asylum seekers not found to be genuine were sent home.
Those found to be in genuine fear of persecution, then Australia would provide a safe haven, he said.
"But what's happened... is that we have now changing security circumstances in large parts of Sri Lanka. They have recently had democratic elections there," he told the Seven Network on Friday morning.
"Outside of the Jaffna Peninsular, the very top of the country, the rest of the country is going OK."
Mr Rudd said Australia was basing changing processing arrangements for asylum seekers on reporting from that country.
"Large parts of it are more secure. Some parts are not. Therefore, it depends where the people come from. The same with Afghanistan."
He said parts of Afghanistan were now more stable than before.
"Therefore, you have got to make a decision which fairly reflects where people come from, not just from the country but from the parts of the country," he said.
Mr Rudd said the government had suspended processing of asylum applications from people from Sri Lanka as the security situation unfolded.
"If it continues to improve, we will find more and more of those applications rejected and more sent back home," he said. (APP)