An asylum seeker boat has been spotted off Western Australia

The Australian navy has reportedly moved to intercept a small boat carrying about 30 Vietnamese asylum seekers off the north-west coast, as the government seeks Vietnamese interpreters to help talk to the passengers.

The vessel, believed to be carrying people from Vietnam, was first seen by a police boat searching for missing sailors from a downed trawler.

The spokesperson said those on-board appeared to be in good health but could not confirm numbers.

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has also refused to comment.

Australia refuses to resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat, and traffic has virtually halted.

“The West Australian police is looking after that situation until the Commonwealth naval vessel arrives, so the situation is in order”, he said, adding?”This boat, while it’s approaching our coast, it’s well offshore and it’s under surveillance”.

“Can I repeat what has been the standard rule of this government – we do not comment on operational matters on the water”, he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Abbott would not say if the government was negotiating with Vietnam over the boat’s return, nor if it had questioned the ABF on how the boat came so close to shore.

In June, reports that Australia paid people-smugglers bound for Australia thousands of dollars to turn their boat back to Indonesia caused tensions with Jakarta, plunging relations to their lowest point in more than a year.

A “take back” of 46 Vietnamese asylum seekers occurred in April.

“Discussions are happening now”, Rintoul said.

No one processed for asylum in Nauru or Papua New Guinea is eligible to be settled in Australia, even if they are found to be a genuine refugee, under the harsh policies introduced by Rudd and strengthened by the current conservative government.

The Abbott government claims its tough stance on asylum seekers is responsible for “stopping the boats”.

Refugee Action Coalition co-ordinator Ian Rintoul told the Sydney Morning Herald the people on board should be brought ashore and allowed to apply for asylum.