A boat carrying 66 suspected asylum seekers has turned up in the West Australian city of Geraldton. Source: AAP
A SUSPECTED asylum seeker boat carrying 66 people has been escorted into the West Australian port city of Geraldton after being intercepted just 100 metres from shore.
About 430km north of Perth, Geraldton is more than 2000km south of the usual interception area for unauthorised boat arrivals, off Christmas Island.
Steve Ranch, who manages the local Dome cafe, told AAP that locals were stunned to see a crowded wooden fishing boat, about 20m long, approaching the shore about noon (WST) on Tuesday.
"At first people weren't sure what was going on," Mr Ranch said.
"We thought it was a hoax or a publicity stunt but then we saw the customs towing it away."
Mr Ranch said the boat remained 100m offshore in Geraldton Harbour for about an hour before authorities intercepted it.
It's believed the boat came from Sri Lanka and had been at sea for about six weeks.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare confirmed in a statement that customs officials had taken the vessel ashore and said a temporary screening centre had been set up to process the arrivals.
Two local men testing the motor in a dinghy are said to have come across the vessel about 500m offshore.
Pictures taken by the men showed the passengers carrying a flag and saying they intended to travel to New Zealand.
The passengers are said to include several children and a pregnant woman.
Opposition border protection spokesman Scott Morrison said the boat's arrival on the WA coast was a sign of the Gillard government's failure to protect Australia's borders.
"For locals in Geraldton, Labor's border protection failures literally came to their harbour this afternoon, and that is emblematic of the state of chaos that we have seen from this government on our borders," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
"It is not funny at all, and this demonstrates the government's border failures have got to the point that people think they can just turn up anywhere on our coast.
"The smugglers and those seeking to come know that this government is a soft touch and it is open to all comers."
Under existing legislation, asylum seekers who reach the mainland can avoid being sent to processing centres on Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was "alarmed" that a boat of asylum seekers could sail undetected into Geraldton port.
"This is a serious, unprecedented and unacceptable breach of Australia's border security," he said.
"That a boat, laden with people, can sail into a busy regional port in broad daylight is shocking."
Geraldton port is one of Australia's busiest regional ports and the country's second-largest for grain export.
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