Can we retrieve our moral values?

The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, more succinctly labelled the Bali Process, started work in 2002. It has almost 50 members and will meet again in Jakarta next month.

Its splendidly-titled job is to 'enhance cooperation on border and visa systems to detect and prevent illegal movements; increase public awareness in order to discourage these activities and warn those susceptible, and …deter people smuggling and trafficking'.

Here's how to judge its effectiveness: According to Parliamentary Papers close to 45,000 have crossed the Arafura Sea since the Bali Processors first shook hands. The largest number was just three years ago; 17,202. Around 1,000 may have drowned.

A Queensland University review published before Australia's unilateral action in turning back the boats found that 'the Bali Process has only produced limited tangible outcomes and has had no immediate impact on the levels and patterns of migrant smuggling in the Asia Pacific region'.

Former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono persistently called for a 'regional solution' without offering details. It's been a regular chorus – this month former Indonesian foreign minister Dr Hassan Wirajuda​was was telling the Asia Dialogues on Forced Migration that the Bali Process needs to be 'dramatically' strengthened.

Fairfax Media, in reporting the forum – a sort of warm-up to the Bali Process – said the meeting warned that unless forced migration is managed under a comprehensive regional plan, it will have "permanent and intensifying negative impacts on countries in our region".

Well, yes, but hasn't that happened already? Is everyone deaf or indifferent?

The push factors, like the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar urgently need addressing but this world issue is too complex for swift local solutions. However we can fix the pulls.

Here are some measures that could help. Those already in Indonesia need to be processed quickly by the UNHCR, which means allocating extra resources for the agency is mightily stressed. This is another area where Australia could assist.

Those found to be economic refugees can be repatriated (something Indonesia can do because it's not a party to the Refugee Convention), the others moved to a camp awaiting third-country settlement – though not Australia.

We are prosperous and have boundless plains to share. Not all refugees carry radical disruptive agendas – many would enrich our society and make fine citizens. Our quota could increase. But all need to be deterred from risking their lives at sea.

There are about 13,500 asylum seekers stranded in Indonesia. That's miniscule in a nation of 250 million, but Indonesia is not a migrant society and has some aversion to foreigners.