IMMIGRATION Minister Alex Hawke has used his powers under the Migration Act to allow a family of Tamil asylum-seekers to live in Perth community detention while four-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan undergoes treatment in hospital.
“The family will now reside in suburban Perth through a community detention placement, close to schools and support services, while the youngest child receives medical treatment from the nearby Perth Children’s Hospital and as the family pursues ongoing legal matters,” Mr Hawke said in a statement.
“Today’s decision releases the family from held detention and facilitates ongoing treatment, while they pursue ongoing litigation before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal Court and High Court.
“Importantly, today’s decision does not create a pathway to a visa.”
Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt said the family had suffered enough.
“Putting them through more hardship and uncertainty is simply cruel,” he said.
“I understand the government does not want to give a ‘green light’ to so-called people smugglers, but the boats have stopped and the government has put measures in place to ensure the boat arrivals do not start up again.
“The family has strong local support as well as significant political support on all sides of the parliament.
“It is time for the government to show compassion and end this family’s trials.
“The children, most of all, deserve this.”
The Murugappan family, Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two daughters Tharnicaa, 4, and Kopika, 5, were detained during a raid on their home in Biloela in 2018 when their visas expired.
The Catholic Leader reported previously the Murugappan family had spent more than 1000 days in detention.
Parents Priya and Nades came to Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013 following Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war.
Both claim they face persecution in Sri Lanka due to links to the Tamil Tigers – a group that fought for liberation during the war.
They married and settled in Biloela, where their two daughters were born.
Their arrest and detention came after their four-year bridging visas expired.
First they were placed in a Melbourne detention centre, and have spent the past two years on Christmas Island where their days are spent in a demountable consisting of a bedroom and living room, in the Phosphate Hill Immigration Facility.
The family’s plight has drawn national attention from all sides of politics.
Mr Hawke said in his statement the government’s position on border protection had not changed.
“Anyone who arrives in Australia illegally by boat will not be resettled permanently,” he said.
“Anyone who is found not to be owed protection will be expected to leave Australia.”
Family friend to the Murugappans, Angela Fredericks, released a statement on behalf of the Home to Bilo campaign welcoming the news the family would be reunited.
“Bringing this family back together is the first important step in getting them home to Bilo,” she said.
She said she hoped the Perth detention was only a temporary step
“Community detention is no guarantee of safety and peace for this family,” she said.
“Australia knows this family’s home is in Biloela.”
Ms Fredericks disputed Mr Hawke’s claim that the courts had control over the family’s fate.
“The truth is that the courts have never had the power to assess the merits of this family’s refugee claims or grant visas.
“Under the Migration Act, only the Department and Ministers can do that.
“The Minister’s power to grant visas is completely independent from the decisions of any court.”
