Home Affair Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed that Australia has received its first people smuggling vessel in over 1,400 days, warning there were 14,000 people in Indonesia waiting to come to Australia.
"The threat of people smugglers hasn't gone away," Mr Dutton told reporters in Queensland.
Fifteen foreign nationals have been detained and authorities are searching for others who abandoned an illegal fishing vessel that ran aground in the Daintree on Sunday.
The asylum seekers went on the run in Queensland crocodile country.
"The arrival of this boat should be a very clear and timely message that the people smugglers will seek to put people on to boats, to take money from innocent men, women and children and to send them to our country. I send this very clear message to people smugglers today - you won't succeed, not under this government," Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton said the asylum seekers could be sent back to their country of origin.
"We need to make sure firstly that the people are safe in place, and then we can start the process of deportation as quickly as possible."
His comments come after Defence Industry Minister Steve Ciobo called for the asylum seekers to be rounded up, taken into custody and sent to Nauru.
"Those people if we can find them, they should be taken into custody, so to speak, and they should be sent to Nauru," Mr Ciobo told Sky News on Monday.
"Or they should be sent somewhere offshore if we're able to do it under our international obligations."
Labor senator Murray Watt also backed the call to send the asylum seekers to Nauru.
Australia is legally obliged to process onshore the protection claims of people who arrive in the country.
The discovered vessel - which authorities believe came from Vietnam - flies in the face of the coalition government's claims to have "stopped the boats".
Mr Ciobo, the incoming defence industry minister, said the incident showed there would always be people trying to sneak into Australia.
"If we capture these people, we should be sending them offshore for processing," he said.
"They should not be allowed to stay in Australia. We may not be able to do that under conventions, we'll have to have a look at it.
"I think as a government we absolutely should be trying to make sure that they're shipped off to somewhere like Nauru, for example, for processing."
Locals raised the alarm when they saw a large group of people fleeing the crippled vessel near the mouth of the Daintree River on Sunday.
Those aboard were seen making a risky swim to a beach where some vanished into mangroves infested with saltwater crocs.
Queensland conservatives Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter separately argued the boatload of asylum seekers cruised into the country while the government was busy tearing itself apart.
Her comments amused crossbench senator Derryn Hinch.
"Pauline, I hate to burst your bubble but I doubt these people who are now running through the rainforests of Queensland were glued to TV sets last week looking at our leadership problems," he said.
