Australia intercepts two new refugee boats: govt

Two boats carrying almost 80 people were intercepted Wednesday off Australia's northern coast as the conservative political opposition called for an independent inquiry into refugee policy.

One vessel carrying 72 people was stopped west of Bathurst Island, while the second was intercepted just one mile from Ashmore Reef with seven on board, said Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus.

Ten people-smuggling boats have been intercepted off Australia or made landfall since January, carrying more than six hundred refugees, many from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

A total of 17 boats have arrived since last September, when the centre-left Labor government rolled back harsh measures which regularly left asylum seekers, including children, locked up for years in immigration centres.

A political storm erupted after an explosion on board one vessel on April 16, which killed five Afghans and injured dozens more.

Now in opposition, the conservatives claim the softer policy is "luring" more asylum seekers to Australia, while the government blames "push factors" such as political unrest in source countries.

Debus has warned of thousands of illegal immigrants waiting in Indonesia for passage to Australia.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull this week called for an independent inquiry into the rise in people smuggling, saying it was becoming an increasingly important and contentious issue.

"(Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd's policy is not working because the boats are arriving in ever increasing numbers," Turnbull said on Tuesday.

"The government says (the increase) has got nothing to do with the change of policy.

"The Australian people are entitled to know what advice the government's received and what advice it's ignored, if it has ignored it and what the impact of this change of policy has been," he said.

Under Rudd's "more humane" policy, asylum seekers arriving by boat are now held on Christmas Island, 2,600 kilometres (1,612 miles) from mainland Australia, and their claims must be expedited, with mandatory six-monthly independent case reviews.