In the past four years, up to seven million Syrians have been displaced internally, with another four million fleeing the country for sanctuary overseas.

It’s a staggering number of people - more than the combined populations of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia’s three largest cities.

The image of four year old Aylan Kurdi’s lifeless body washed up on a beach in Turkey has galvanised parts of Europe into action, as they deal with what’s been described as the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

Australia has copped a hammering on the world stage for its immigration policies.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has already indicated a change in the ratio of Syrian refugees that Australia will accept under its UN obligations.

However, we suggest that this isn’t enough. It’s a humanitarian crisis and the world, including Australia, must respond.

And there is no reason why we can’t.

Here’s another way to think about it: According to Forbes Magazine, Australia’s 50 richest people (only four were women) were worth a minimum $550 million each last year.

Let’s say they were all worth ‘just’ $550m; if they were able to donate $5m each – or 0.9 per cent of their worth - $250m would be raised.

To claim Australia doesn’t have money or space to re-home refugees is a fallacy.