The Refugee Council of Australia is calling for the Federal Government to expand its refugee intake to 20,000 people a year.
The council says Australia's refugee and humanitarian program dropped to 6.6 per cent of total migration in 2008-09, the lowest level in 35 years.
Council chief executive Paul Power says nations are not allocating enough space as the number of people needing resettlement continues to grow around the world.
"Not only are there 15.2 million refugees around the world, but [the United Nations] has identified around 750,000 of them as being in desperate need of resettlement," he said.
"Currently there's only around 75,000 or so refugee resettlement places around the world."