The Prime Minister John Howard, says he cannot confirm reports that six more people from Papua have arrived in Australia.
The Department of Immigration says it is investigating reports that a family from the troubled Indonesian province has landed on an island in Australian territory.
It comes two months after 43 Papuans landed on Australia's north-eastern tip near Cape York, sparking a diplomatic row with Indonesia.
Mr Howard says he understands Indonesia's reaction to that group being given temporary protection visas, but he says the bilateral relationship is strong enough to survive.
"Clearly, this has created a strain in the relationship, but I don't regard it as, in any way, a fatal strain."
He says "I think the relationship is strong enough and deep enough and warm enough to survive this, but it is an issue about which the Indonesians feel a great deal of sensitivity, and it's an issue that we are closely following."