[Gordon Booth]

It's got to the point where the smugglers don't even try to land them.
Just enough fuel to get outside Libyan territorial waters, a good phone with the Italian coastguards emergency number on it, point them in the right direction and leave them to it. No risk for the smugglers.
The Australians got it right, top the fuel up, point them back to Libya and send them on their way.
It's cruel but word would soon get out in Libya(and Greece if they did the same) that those thousands of dollars they're paying would just be wasted money, better to use them to get back home.
That would also save all those wasted lives.
Every one of them who gets into Europe is spreading the message by phone 'I did it.You can do it'. The torrent will turn into a flood and floods can drown you.