The government has boosted spending on border security, with the announcement of eight new border patrol vessels, as the cost of housing asylum seekers is expected to expand rapidly.
The new fleet will be operational by 2015-16.
It's part of the government's $1.2 billion border protection scheme, which includes the strengthening of ties with regional partners and the enhancement of aviation security.
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Included in the measures, announced in the federal budget, is $15.7 million for a new vessel that will solely patrol Ashmore Reef, and $17.8 million to boost numbers of Australian Federal Police officers and sniffer dogs in the country's airports.
The government will provide nearly $33 million over four years to Indonesia to stem what it calls "irregular migration flows".
Despite the initiative being obviously targeted at enhancing Australia's border security, the cost of the measure will be mostly offset by a provision of expanded aid funding.
The Opposition has slammed the Rudd Government as being soft on border protection, blaming the increase in the number of suspected asylum seekers on lax policy.
Federal expenditure on border security and anti-people smuggling measures has nearly doubled from $654 million in 2009's budget, to $1.2 billion in this year's announcement.
Meanwhile, the projected cost of housing asylum seekers for 2010-11 is expected to reach $151.8 million, up from just $31.6 million in the previous financial year.
The government recently announced it would reopen the Curtin detention centre in north-western Western Australia to deal with an influx of asylum seekers.
