SYDNEY (AFP) – The Australian navy has intercepted a suspected people-smuggling boat carrying 65 asylum seekers, officials said, the second such vessel stopped in 24 hours off the country's northwest coast.

The HMAS Maitland intercepted the boat on Saturday night about three nautical miles from Ashmore Island, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said.
Earlier Saturday, the same navy patrol boat stopped another vessel with 83 asylum seekers about 80 nautical miles south of the island, an uninhabited Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.
All 148 asylum seekers and seven crew members who were operating the two boats would be transferred to an immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, further west in the Indian Ocean, O'Connor said.
Some 21 illegal vessels have been stopped this year, three in the past week.
Australia has detained more than 1,000 would-be refugees this year and the government has warned that there are thousands more waiting in neighboring Indonesia, a key staging post for people smugglers.
Australia's conservative opposition has blamed the centre-left government for the influx, saying its softening of refugee policies was encouraging people smugglers.
Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said people smugglers were threatening to “swamp” Australia's official refugee program.
“The message now, it's well-established -- in Indonesia, in Malaysia and up through to places like Pakistan or the further western Middle East -- come on down, you're going to have a fairly trouble-free passage,” Stone told public broadcaster ABC.
But O'Connor said international unrest was to blame for the surge in boat numbers, not government policy.
“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,” he said.
“The Australian government remains vigilant and committed to protecting Australia's borders.”