Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said there were 48 passengers and four crew on board the vessel, which was apprehended late last night 78 nautical miles west of Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory.

“The people on board the vessel are safe and have indicated that they wish to come to Australia,” Mr O’Connor said today.

They are being transported to an Australian immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometres) north-west of the mainland,for health and security checks.

Four other boats carrying suspected asylum seekers have been intercepted off Australia’s northwest coast since September 7. The five boats have carried a total of 263 people into Australian territory.

The political opposition blames Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s relaxed immigration policies for the increase in boat arrivals.

Last year, Mr Rudd relaxed the mandatory detention policy for asylum seekers and allowed full residency visas for those accepted as refugees, rather than the temporary visas granted by the previous government.

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said there has been a complete breakdown of immigration policy and border protection.

“It’s an example of this government completely out of control,” she said.

“For Brendan O’Connor to say, ’Look how clever we’ve been, we’ve found another boat,’ that’s nonsense.”

The government says the influx of people is due to violence and insecurity in their home countries and nothing to do with Australian policy.

“People smuggling is not just an issue for Australia; it is a global and regional problem,” Mr O’Connor said. “Situations around the world mean that large numbers of displaced persons are looking for settlement in wealthy, developed nations like Australia and can be targeted by, and fall prey to, people smugglers.”

The latest boat is the 32nd to arrive in Australia since Mr Rudd’s government took office in 2007.