Unveiling the annual budget, the government committed an extra A$1.3 billion (S$1.4 billion) to strengthening border security, including two additional spotter planes and an extra surveillance ship.

'A global spike in people-smuggling activity around the world, including in Australian waters, means we need more resources to deal with this global problem,' the government said in a statement. 'This strategy will include the largest surveillance and detection operation against people-smuggling in Australian history.'

New customs posts would be established in the critical transit countries of Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and Australia's diplomatic presence would be bolstered in Indonesia, it said.

More money would be dedicated to 'ramping up' a policing partnership with Indonesia to investigate people-smuggling, and extra funds will be provided for counter-terrorism, prosecutions and airport security.

'The government does not believe this commitment can or should be influenced by current economic conditions,' it said.

Australia has experienced a steady stream of refugee boats this year, the most recent intercepted on Monday, fuelling controversy over the government's softer line on asylum-seekers.

It was the 12th suspected people-smuggling ship to be stopped in Australian waters or to have made landfall since January, which have brought in more than six hundred refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The vessel was carrying 31 passengers and three crew.

A total of 18 boats have arrived since last September, when the centre-left Labor government rolled back restrictive measures that regularly left asylum seekers, including children, locked up for years in immigration centres.

Under the new system introduced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, their claims must be processed swiftly, with mandatory six-monthly independent case reviews. -- AFP