Foreign Minister Bob Carr warns Jordan is "severely stretched" as it shelters more than 145,000 Syrian refugees who have fled their country's civil war.
Senator Carr, who met with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Amman, said the stresses on Jordan must be counted as another cost of the world community's failure to settle on effective action.
Mr Carr said in a statement: "With more than a thousand Syrians a day fleeing across the border to Jordan, hospitals, shelter and water supplies are severely stretched."
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Syria already houses 450,000 Iraqi and up to two million Palestinian refugees.
"I appeal to the world to take notice, not just of the crisis in Syria, but of the burden to Jordan that this crisis represents," Senator Carr said.
Lebanon and Turkey also have experienced a surge in refugee numbers from Syria.
Senator Carr said Australians would be disappointed by the resignation of the United Nations and Arab League's Syria envoy Kofi Annan.
Mr Annan blamed the major powers for not giving enough backing to his peace efforts on his decision to stand down from the post.
