A suspected asylum-seeker boat carrying an estimated 80 passengers including children has arrived at Christmas Island.
Christmas Island Shire councillor Gordon Thomson told AAP he witnessed passengers disembarking Navy inflatable boats onto the jetty at about 3pm (local time) on Thursday.
He said there were children among the group.
It's the second asylum-seeker boat to arrive since the coalition government introduced a new media blackout protocol, stopping the practice of announcing boat arrivals as they happen.
It's believed to be the 10th boat arrival since the federal election.
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Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is likely to confirm the arrival at his weekly briefing next week but his office was unavailable for comment.
Earlier this week, immigration officials detained a family of seven West Papuans who arrived by speedboat on Australia's Boigu Island, four kilometres south of the PNG mainland.
The group may be transferred for offshore processing on Manus Island PNG, or Nauru.
On Sunday, a boat carrying 30 suspected asylum seekers arrived at Christmas Island.
