"We know of at least one man who is still in jail and whose mother, who hadn't attempted to leave Vietnam, has been intimidated by police," she said. Ms Thompson said at least eight children and about 30 adults were among the passengers on the boat turned back off Dampier. "Baby, Y Nhu and four year olds Khoi and Chuong are amongst those on board the Vietnamese asylum seeker boat intercepted by WA Water Police off the coast of Western Australia on Monday," Ms Thompson said. In a letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mr Dutton on Wednesday, Vietnamese Community in Australia president Tri Vo said he feared the suspected asylum seekers intercepted 150 kilometres off the coast of Dampier, believed to be from Binh Thuan province, would suffer the same fate as those turned back this year. "They must not be pushed back to Vietnam, like the 46 people in April this year, where at least one of whom is now in jail, and several others have been interrogated again and again," Mr Vo wrote.

"These people should be brought to the Australian mainland rather than to Manus Island or Nauru, because there have previously been violence by locals there. "We are also of the view that vulnerable people on board should not be mistreated under a veil of secrecy, especially when this is not a national security issues." At a Senate estimate inquiry in May into the turning back of 46 Vietnamese asylum seekers a month earlier, border officials said the government had assured "there would not be any retribution for their illegal departure from Vietnam". The inquiry heard the Department of Immigration and Border Protection did not track asylum seekers once they were returned. The appeals coincide with a call from federal Labor leader Bill Shorten to members to back the government's turn back policy at the ALP's national conference in Melbourne this weekend.

"Labor wants to defeat the people smugglers and we want to prevent drownings at sea and therefore one of the options which we believe has to be on the table if we're given the privilege of forming a government has to be the option to turn back boats," Mr Shorten said. However, Mr Dutton dismissed Mr Shorten's new position on ABC's AM program, describing it as a "completely soft approach". Refugee Council of Australia chief executive officer Paul Power said Mr Shorten was pandering to the politics. "I mean the Labor Party promotes itself as a party of the centre and yet its leader is asking it to abandon any principals of fairness and compassion and respect for international law and copy the policy of the liberal national coalition," Mr Power said. Ms Thompson said it was assumed Border Force would interview asylum seekers at sea after a two- week journey "crammed into a tiny boat".