Kevin Rudd: 'Too many innocent people have been lost at sea'

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called on people smugglers to "stop people by boat to Australia" after a vessel carrying asylum seekers sank off the Indonesian island of Java.

Four people have died and at least 157 people have been rescued. It is not clear how many are missing.

Kevin Rudd announced a new asylum policy last week, ahead of polls expected to be announced soon.

ABC's political correspondent Greg Jennett said that people smuggling was "emerging as the dominant domestic issue".