Standoff continues as troops guard boat people

The Australian Government has ignored intense international pressure to allow a Norwegian cargo ship carrying hundreds of refugees to dock on Christmas Island.

Australian prime minister John Howard is facing growing anger among the electorate over the amount of money spent on asylum seekers.

He is refusing to budge from his hardline stance that the captain of the Tampa must take his unwanted human cargo back to Indonesia.

Howard, who sent heavily armed commandos to occupy the ship, faces an election by the end of the year, and he is trailing the opposition Labour Party in most major polls.

The Tampa rescued the 438 refugees - mostly from Afghanistan - from a sinking Indonesian ferry and has been at the centre of an international diplomatic storm ever since as Australia, Norway and Indonesia argue over what to do with them.

Howard refused to speculate on what would happen next to the refugees or the dozens of Special Air Service commandos now aboard the ship along with a team of medics. The commandos arrived after the captain ignored Australian orders to stay out of its territorial waters.

"Everything we have done has been on our advice quite legal, and everything we do in the future will be quite legal," Howard said.

"The legal position is that a ship is not entitled to remain in Australian territorial waters without our permission."

International aid agencies are lobbying the Government to be given access to the refugees, as sanitary conditions on the Tampa begin to deteriorate.

The ship is only equipped to handle a crew of about 50, and the refugees are trying to escape the hot tropical temperatures and harsh sunlight in the area by sitting under tarpaulins strapped across huge containers on its deck.