Asylum Seeker Boat Slips Into Christmas Island Cove

A boat reportedly carrying asylum seekers was intercepted by the Australian navy close to Christmas Island on Friday, the first to reach the island since December 2013.

Anadolu Agency understands that an Indonesian fishing boat arrived at the Smith's Point end of Flying Fish Cove on Christmas Island - a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean - early Friday local time.

"If the government really does care about saving lives at sea, they wouldn't tow this boat away from Christmas Island, they would let it land safely", Ms Hanson-Young said in a statement on Twitter.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has refused to comment on the report, saying the government does not comment on operational matters.

The government needed to disclose what would happen to those on board and whether there were any women and children, she said.

Mr Thomson says the federal government hasn't notified him about approaching boats since 2009.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not comment when asked about the report. It was intercepted near Christmas Island and the passengers were detained on a Customs boat for a month, before being transferred to the Curtin detention centre, then Nauru.

"Will he use this boat to upset Indonesia or will he use it as an opportunity to break from the Abbott past?"

"The issue is you've got to show people that there is a clear pathway and if there is no pathway, people engage with people smugglers".

The last boat containing 157 Tamil asylum seekers who had fled Sri Lanka arrived in Australia June a year ago.

"We will not tolerate those people that seek to come to Australia by boat, they will be processed offshore and they will not find a home here in Australia".