"There are many sick people aboard and there is an acute need for medicine," said spokesman Hans Christian Bangsmoen.
Australian churches, refugee advocacy and human rights groups have condemned the decision to turn away the Tampa saying it was contrary to international obligations to protect people in need.
But elsewhere, the decision met support.
"Australia is entitled to insist, as far as it can, that its immigration program remains orderly," Melbourne's The Age newspaper said in an editorial.
RSS