Aus must help with boat rescues: Greens

There are calls for Australia to play a leading role in the search and rescue of thousands of asylum seekers from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The Greens say Australia should help out as an asylum seeker crisis escalates in southeast Asia. (AAP)

Australia should be sending ships to bolster search and rescue efforts as an asylum seeker boat crisis escalates in southeast Asia, the Australian Greens say.

Thousands have been stranded at sea since Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand began turning away vessels overloaded with Bangladeshis and people from Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya minority.

Australia has a vested interest in regional security and as the best resourced country in the region has a responsibility to help out, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told Sky News on Tuesday.