Eight suspected asylum seekers have reportedly been detained by authorities in a remote part of after arriving by boat.
Six of the arrivals, who are believed to be from China, were discovered by local workers on Tuesday near the remote Indigenous township of Maningrida, around 500km east of Darwin in Arnhem Land, reported the ABC.
A further two men were reportedly found the following day by Indigenous rangers and are now in n Border Force (ABF) custody.
The ABC reports that authorities are yet to discover a boat, raising the possibility the men were dropped off on the mainland by an Indonesian fishing vessel.
Freshly-appointed Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie said: ‘We are now seeing the Albanese government reap the whirlwind of their underinvestment in our border security and defence capabilities.
‘We should have unblinking surveillance on our northern approaches, but instead we have illegal boats penetrating our borders and people making it ashore,’ he said
‘This signals weakness to the people smugglers that business is back on under Labor.’
An ABF spokesperson said: ‘The n Border Force does not comment on or confirm operational matters.’