PM: NZ ready to deal with arrival of boat people

New Zealand is ready to deal with a boatload of asylum seekers should one make it to our waters, which is an increasingly likely prospect, says Prime Minister John Key.

Commenting on reports a boat detained in Indonesia on Saturday was carrying 88 Sri Lankan asylum seekers apparently determined to make it to New Zealand, Mr Key yesterday said they were not welcome.

Letting boatpeople into New Zealand would reward people smugglers and open the floodgates to asylum seekers, Prime Minister John Key says.

Mr Key has warned several times that they types of vessels increasingly employed by people smugglers were capable of reaching New Zealand and it was only a matter of time before one reached New Zealand waters.

This morning Mr Key said should that happen, New Zealand was ready.

"We've upgraded our operating manual.. in the way that we'd deal with a mass migration issue if it came to New Zealand and we're confident that we understand our legal position.

"I don't want to go into detail but all I will say is we've got the capability and we've modelled that we understand what we need to do."

Mr Key said the relevant legislation had recently been reviewed.

"We haven't proposed major changes at this point because we don't think that's necessary although we'd be in a position to do that if required."

There was no evidence to date that any asylum seekers had successfully landed in New Zealand by sea but there had clearly been a number of attempts.

"If they reached New Zealand waters ultimately we would need to process them and see whether they are genuine asylum seekers."

However those on the boat detained in Indonesia would not be considered.

"No one has the right to claim an asylum seeking position or that they are a genuine refugee unless they are in New Zealand waters. These people are not."

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said nothing was found on the boat to indicate that they intended to come to New Zealand.

"It's not just about the capability [of the boat], but the reality is you would expect there to be things like maps on board, charts that would indicate their true destination.

"There was no concrete evidence found on that boat that those people were really intending to come to New Zealand."

The purpose of the signs may have been to create political pressure, he said.

"If you're standing on a boat with signs saying 'we want to got to New Zealand' and inviting intervention, then that's a form of pressure."

He said his information came from a range of sources, but would not comment further.

"These people won't be coming to New Zealand. That's the bottom line."

Mr Key said New Zealand took in 750 refugees a year and there were no plans to expand that programme.

"That's a good programme, it basically identifies genuine refugees and they come to New Zealand and we do everything we can to make them feel at home here and start a new life here," Mr Key told TV3's Firstline.

"But once you start taking people in the form of people smugglers, then you're rewarding the bay guys, you're rewarding people who are putting other's lives at risk.

"There's no guarantee that they're actually refugees, and quite frankly you open the floodgate, which you've seen in Australia is one that you can't stop."

There were millions of boatpeople so taking one boatload was not a clear-cut action.

"There are just thousands and thousands of other boats that will come," he said.

"But while they're not anywhere near our waters, the message is a very clear one - we don't want people coming to New Zealand in this form," he said.

"Frankly that's the way it should be because there's a very clear pathway, it's fair to people, and that is you come through the normal channels as a refugee, otherwise you're jumping the queue."

Mr Key said he had not had any discussions with Australia over the boatpeople.

Refugee Council of New Zealand chief executive Gary Poole said asylum seekers should not become a political football. "Unfortunately, there is frankly quite a lot to learn from Australia in how not to address the issue," he said.

Labour leader Phil Goff said while "individually we can feel very sympathetic to the people that are in a very awful situation", a country couldn't run its immigration policy by saying it would take whoever turned up.

Mr Goff said Mr Key's comment that the asylum seekers were not welcome "shows a lack of human feeling for the suffering of the individuals concerned", but New Zealand couldn't simply give way to the people smugglers "who are making money out of people's misery".

"We've got to do it properly, we've got to do it through the United Nations."