DOZENS of asylum seekers are feared to have drowned after a boat believed to be heading for Australia sank off the Indonesian island of Java yesterday.
The bodies of four women and two children were found by fishermen off the west coast of Java about 5am, and another body was found later.
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At 1am yesterday, 70 left in a boat from Cilacap, Java. It sank at a nearby island four hours later.
A further 20 people were reported missing, including some trapped inside the lower part of the boat when it capsized.
The disaster happened on the same day that Labor and the Coalition, in a rare show of unity on asylum seeker policy, moved to rush through changes to migration laws to thwart attempts by people smugglers to avoid criminal prosecution.
Yesterday's fatalities are the first known deaths involving asylum seekers heading to Australia since a boat slammed into rocks at Christmas Island almost a year ago, killing as many as 50 people.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said last night that Indonesian authorities had rescued 46 people, but 20 were still missing. He said the boat was presumed to have been on its way to Christmas Island.
A further 20 people were reported missing.
The vessel did not have adequate safety equipment and was suspected to be carrying about 70 Iranians and Afghans.
The latest disaster coincides with an increase in the number of boats heading to Australia after the collapse of the proposed refugee swap deal with Malaysia, which forced the Gillard government to reluctantly embrace onshore processing.
Another boat arrived safely at Christmas Island yesterday carrying 92 people. It was the sixth boat arrival since the shift to onshore processing.
Both major parties blamed the latest deaths on ''criminal'' activities of people smugglers.
Mr O'Connor said the government had ''foretold'' the disaster. ''This is a tragic event which underscores the absolute dire need to put in the strongest possible deterrent to combat people smuggling and to prevent dangerous vessels embarking on a journey to Australia,'' he said.
He said the strongest deterrent would be to implement the deal with Malaysia.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said it was ''people smugglers who are responsible for deaths at sea''. But he said this was not a time for politics and would not be drawn on how Australia should cope with the arrival of asylum seekers.
The move to rush changes to the Migration Act is aimed at blocking a court appeal by an Indonesian man accused of people smuggling. The bill backdates law changes to ensure smugglers cannot claim their actions are lawful if passengers are later found to be refugees.
The legislation was passed in the House of Representatives last night ahead of a hearing tomorrow in the Victorian Court of Appeal, where lawyers for Jeky Payara, 20, are challenging a charge of ''aggravated'' people smuggling after he steered a boat to Christmas Island last year carrying 49 asylum seekers.
Victoria Legal Aid was to argue that a section of the act making it an offence to arrange entry for people who have ''no lawful right to come to Australia'' does not apply to Payara as people on the boat had the right to seek asylum.
Mr O'Connor said yesterday's deaths showed why the government had to ensure people smuggling convictions already made were not invalidated.
Greens MP Adam Bandt said the bill was a ''knee-jerk reaction'' and ''another example of Labor and the Coalition working together to diminish the legitimate rights of people coming to this country to seek asylum''.
Human Rights Legal Centre director Phil Lynch blasted the retrospective changes. ''Retrospectivity is completely offensive to the rule of law and incompatible with Australia's international human rights obligations.''
More than 350 men are facing people smuggling charges in Australia. Most are crew members, with only six said to have been organisers.
Mr Bandt said Payara was not a people smuggler but an impoverished fisherman.
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