Asylum seekers beg Rudd to relent

The asylum seekers on the boat outside the Indonesian port of Merak have begged the federal government to show strength through compassion and allow them into Australia.

Speaking through a phone link at a rally in Sydney to support asylum seekers, a nine-year-old refugee on the boat asked the government to help them.

"Please take us to your country," Brindha said.

"Please help us."

A refugee spokesman on board, who uses the pseudonym Alex, said the little girl had been crying from the minute she got on the boat.

Alex said the people on board were facing many problems.

"The Indonesian government will not protect us.

"Our lives and our family members at home in Sri Lanka are at risk.

"Maybe the Rudd government at least could take the children."

The wooden boat was intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia in mid-October.

It was towed to Merak, west of Jakarta, where the asylum seekers are refusing to disembark the Oceanic Viking, a customs vessel.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says his "balanced" approach to asylum seekers won't be popular in some circles.

Responding to a call by unions asking him to take the moral high ground by letting asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking be processed in Australia, Mr Rudd said each asylum seeker vessel would be dealt with on its own merit.

"All countries in the region - ourselves, Indonesia, the Malaysians and others - are seeking to deal with what is a genuine global problem," he told Fairfax Radioon Monday.

"It's not easy. You can't just wish it to go away. You just need strong, consistent policy."

The 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking in Indonesian waters are refusing to leave the Australian customs ship.

The Indonesian government has said it will not force the asylum seekers off the boat.

Mr Rudd said the matter was for Indonesia and the UN to work on but it highlighted how asylum seekers impact the entire region.

"That's why we need to adopt a consistent, responsible border protection policy in the national interest, hardline against people smugglers and humane in our dealing with genuine asylum seekers," he said.

"But I fully accept that this sort of balanced approach won't be popular with people on the extreme right or people on the extreme left."

He said the number of asylum seekers had increased since 2005 around the world as global turmoil increased in areas like Afghanistan.

"We believe we've got a responsible, balanced approach towards what is a very difficult set of challenges caused by global developments."

ACTU president Sharan Burrow called on Mr Rudd earlier on Monday to let the asylum seekers be processed in Australia.

"Take the moral high ground, you'll have our support," she said, speaking to reporters in Melbourne.

"Bring the people here, let's process them, give them safe homes if they're genuine refugees."

Meanwhile, an online poll shows a majority of voters believe the federal government's dismantling of the coalition's border protection regime is to blame for a surge in asylum seekers heading to Australia.

More than half of those surveyed also believe there is a real prospect that terrorists are among asylum seekers arriving by boat, and want the government to turn them back.

In a weekly online poll by consultants Essential Research, 52 per cent of those surveyed said the government was weak on border protection, leading to more asylum seeker boats entering Australian waters. Just 21 per cent disagreed, while the remainder were undecided.

Just 36 per cent of those surveyed supported the government's handling of the asylum seeker issue.

But results do not translate into support for the opposition, with only 21 per cent saying a coalition government would do a better job.

A total of 37 asylum seeker boats carrying almost 2,000 people have been intercepted in Australian waters this year.

Another two boats that were heading for Australia have been turned back to Indonesia.

The majority of those surveyed (66 per cent) think the government is right in trying to discourage people smuggling activity by turning back the boats.

The poll also points to a culture of fear among Australians when it comes to asylum seekers, with 56 per cent of those surveyed believing terrorists are aboard the vessels being intercepted.

Just 23 per cent think the government should show more compassion towards asylum seekers in the same way the Fraser government did in the 1970s.

Under former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who has criticised both sides of politics for their stance on the issue, more than 250,000 refugees from the Vietnam War were accepted into Australia.

The survey of 1,122 people was conducted online from October 27 to November 1.