Australia's border forces are being ramped up after a boatload of asylum seekers slipped through the security net and snuck into far north Queensland.

The air force and navy are now being enlisted to help Australian Border Force officers find and intercept people smuggling vessels off the country's vast coastline.

"The arrival of a people smuggling boat from Vietnam in late August is a reminder that the threat of people smuggling hasn't gone away," Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said on Sunday.

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Seventeen Vietnamese asylum seekers were deported late last month following a two-day manhunt in crocodile country near the mouth of the Daintree River.

Mr Dutton said while the venture failed, people smugglers would likely use the arrival of the group on Australian soil as a marketing tool to persuade others seeking protection to cross the oceans on unseaworthy vessels.