The Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, has been unable tosay where and when a group of asylum seekers who arrived on ChristmasIsland yesterday will be sent overseas for processing.

The groupof 54 mainly Iranian asylum seekers were aboard a small boatintercepted near Christmas Island, the second vessel to arrive sincethe Australian Government announced its refugee deal with Malaysia.

Thegroup has been taken to the island's Phosphate Hill low-securitydetention centre and is being kept separate from the general population.

The asylum seekers have been told they will not have their refugee claims processed in Australia in line with the new policy.

Lastweek, Australia announced it had an in-principle agreement withMalaysia to swap 800 asylum seekers in return for 4,000 alreadyapproved refugees.

But last night on the ABC's 7.30, Mr Bowensaid offshore processing talks were continuing with a number ofcountries and plans had yet to be finalised.

"The discussionswe've had with other countries have been very productive. We'll bemaking further announcements when we're in a position to," he said.

"It would be not appropriate for me to pre-empt those before those governments have finalised their consideration."

Thailand has expressed interest in a similar swap arrangement, but Mr Bowen says Australia has not started formal talks yet.

TheGovernment has had discussions with Papua New Guinea about an asylumseeker deal that have included the possibility of reopening thedetention centre on Manus island.

But Mr Bowen says those talks have not yet focused on cost.

Hard line

Mr Bowen says he believes the Government's new strategy will eventually stop the boats.

"Iwant to stop people getting on the boats and coming to Australia. Idon't apologise for that, because it's not in their best interests," hesaid.

"I think these policies are designed and will have an impact on that business model."

Mr Bowen says he does not want to see a repeat of the Christmas Island boat tragedy.

Atthe weekend the Government reaffirmed the new offshore processingpolicy during a press conference held by Mr Bowen after the arrival ofthe first new boat.

Parts of the press conference weretranslated into several languages, including Arabic and Farsi, andbeamed to the world on YouTube.

Included in the video werepictures of people boarding a plane seemingly bound for Malaysia, eventhough that has not happened yet.