Labor under fire after ‘undetected’ Indonesian boat carrying 12 people arrives on mainland in WA

A fresh political storm is brewing over how a boatload of people arrived “undetected” on the Australian mainland, with the government asked to explain.

The group of 12 people had landed on a remote part of the West Australian coast, according to reports.

The group, understood to be mostly men, were first noticed at remote Mungalalu-Truscott Airbase in the Kimberley region earlier this week.

It is not yet known whether the group are fisherman or asylum seekers, or how long they had been in the country before they were detected.

WA Police directed inquiries to the Australian Border Force (ABF) when contacted for comment.

The group were detected at Mungalalu-Truscott Airbase in the remote Kimberley Region. Credit: Supplied

The ABF refused to provide any detail on transfer plans.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil was also contacted for comment.

The Opposition’s home affairs spokesman, James Paterson, claimed the group’s arrival marked the 10th people smuggling venture since the Albanese government was elected.

He said it was a sign that Labor “has failed on border security”.

“Under Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Labor, Australia’s border security is getting worse every month,” he said.

Senator Paterson said Ms O’Neil must “immediately front the media and share with the public what the government knows about these reports”.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has been tight-lipped over the boat’s arrival. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia

He noted the arrivals came weeks after “Labor botched the management of the release” of the detainees impacted by the High Court decision.

Earlier this month, the High Court ruled that indefinite detention without the prospect of deportation was unlawful, overturning 20 years of precedent.

Dozens of people – including some convicted criminals – have been released into the community.

Emergency measures passed by the parliament require those non-citizens to wear ankle monitors and abide by a raft of rules.

Education Minister Jason Clare warned against conflating the High Court decision and this incident, saying they are “two separate matters”.

“There is an investigation going on, we don’t comment on operation matters,” he said.

“If people seek to come to Australia by boat, the boat is either turned back, people return to their country of origin, or they are settled in a third country. That was the position of the former government, the same one for our government,” he told Channel 7.

The Coalition’s home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government must come clean about what it knows. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia

Deputy Opposition leader Sussan Ley, who appeared on the program with him, said she was “very concerned” by the reports.

ALP President Wayne Swan said what the government was doing was “the normal procedure”.

“The government will process these arrivals, and they will be deported,” he told Channel 9.

“That’s been policy in Australia now for a long time, and talking about it and exaggerating its impact is precisely what the people smugglers want.

Pressed on whether the arrival was a flaw in border security, Mr Swan said such instances happen “from time to time”.

“This won’t be the first undetected boat and it won’t be the last,” he said.

“But you would be disturbed if there were a flurry of undetected boats. I don’t think there will be.”

Core elements of Operation Sovereign Borders have continued under Labor, namely offshore detention, boat turnbacks and takebacks when feasible, and a ban on refugees or asylum seekers who arrived after 2013 settling in Australia.