Tony Abbott has a new three-word slogan, crafted in response to appeals for Australia to resettle some of the thousands of refugees facing death in the Andaman Sea: "Nope, nope, nope."

Its fatal flaw is that it assumes the Bay of Bengal refugee crisis is identical to the one he faced when he came to power – and can be handled with the same unsustainable tool of deterrent and the same resort to simplistic "front door/back door" language. It can't.

Like John Howard's Pacific Solution, it sees every aspect of asylum seeker policy through the prism of whether a green light will be flashed at people smugglers. It misses the bigger picture and an opportunity to help forge a better way.

To understand the biggest difference, all you need is a map that shows the escape route of the desperately poor and perennially persecuted (and the two groups are not mutually exclusive).

They are fleeing Bangladesh and Myanmar to neighbouring Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia by any means available, not seeking transit on the way to "life in a Western country". They don't know the difference between the back door and the front door and it is not just people smugglers who prey on their plight, but human traffickers too.

Rather than encourage other countries to ape Australia's punitive approach, it's time to talk seriously about a regional framework that reconciles treating people humanely with putting smugglers and traffickers out of business.

The Prime Minister did not have to immediately join the United States and announce a willingness to help resettle those who are found to be refugees or assist in the repatriation of those whose protection claims are rejected.

But he did have the opportunity to signal Australia's willingness to explore all the issues, from the immediate challenge of rescuing those who face death at sea to addressing the reasons why people fled their homelands.

Instead, his only message was for the domestic political audience and the people smugglers.