A top US official believes Australia's reputation as a leader on the humanitarian response to refugees has deteriorated in recent years.
US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard is in Indonesia as part of a six-day regional visit to learn more about an asylum-seeker boat crisis that has left thousands of refugees stranded at sea.
The crisis had brought out the "best and worst in humanity", she told reporters during an international phone hook-up briefing on Wednesday.
Ms Richard reflected on the "depth of despair" of those exploited, traumatised and grieving for lost loved ones, and commended the outpouring of generosity shown by the people of Aceh in Indonesia towards the rescued.
An estimated 2000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are still stranded on the Andaman Sea, even though Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to accommodate thousands of rescued people for a year until they can be resettled elsewhere.
Australia has ruled out resettling any of them.
Ms Richard lamented that previously there had been a strong tradition where governments in Canada, the US and Australia did the most for refugees.
"That sense that Australia is at the forefront has deteriorated a bit in the last couple of years," she said.
"It would be great if Australia could be with us again, really being leaders in humanitarian responses to migrants and refugees."
Asked about Australia's controversial boat turnback policies, Ms Richard said the US took a different approach by ensuring people got a chance to state their case for asylum.
"That is needed around the region."
Australia has turned back about 20 asylum-seeker boats since Operation Sovereign Borders began in late 2013.
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