This paper explores regional responsibility sharing arrangements for refugees. Under these arrangements, countries within or reacting to developments in a particular region may agree to take up distinct roles with respect to the protection of refugees. Examples of these roles include ‘processing’ claims or determining who is and who is not a refugee; offering temporary refuge while a ‘durable solution’ is found for the refugee; resettling refugees, on a permanent basis, from places of temporary refuge; and financing the protection of refugees. Critical analysis of such arrangements is urgently required in the context of ongoing debate in Australia about reception of refugees and persons claiming to be refugees (‘asylum seekers’).