Immigration Minister says allowing Tamil family to stay in Australia would encourage people smugglers

The Immigration Minister has said he believes allowing a family of Tamil asylum seekers to resettle in Australia permanently would lead to more people trying to illegally get to the mainland by boat.

Alex Hawke has intervened to allow the Murugappan family to live in Perth while four-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan undergoes treatment in hospital, but he told Sky News the government’s position on permanent resettlement was clear.

“That is no-one who came here illegally by boat will be resettled in Australia,” he said.

When asked if it was his view that by granting the family permanent visas it would start a “flood of boats”, Mr Hawke replied: “Absolutely, yes. “There is a trade in people smuggling. It is always live. They watch developments in Australia very closely.

“If anyone is resettled under that system, our advice continues to be that people smuggling trade will restart.”

Nadesalingam Murugappan, better known as Nades, arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 to seek asylum from persecution in Sri Lanka.

According to court documents from June 2018, Nades claimed he was forced to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2001.

The Tamil Tigers fought to create an independent state during a bloody 26-year civil war but were defeated in 2009.

Tamils report that they still face retribution, and Nades has said he was harassed by the Sri Lankan military and bore scars from a government bomb blast.

Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam, known as Priya, also arrived by boat in 2013 to seek asylum.

Priya has said she fled Sri Lanka after she saw her then-fiance and five other men from her village burned alive by the army.

The family were granted temporary bridging visas and settled in the central Queensland town of Biloela, which welcomed them.

Mr Hawke said it was safe for the family to return to Sri Lanka.

But a friend of the family, Brownyn Dendle, said it was “absolutely not safe” for them to go back.

“Even recent international findings have shown that the reports that have been given to our government about the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka are based on a lot of inaccuracies,” she said.

“Our government, for whatever reason, has ignored reports from the United Nations, from Red Cross, from Amnesty International, the independent international organisations that say it’s not safe for Tamils to return.

“So when a government … bureaucrat processes someone’s claim and they see on the dept website that Sri Lanka is safe for Tamils, then a lot of people aren’t going to get the safety that is owed to them.” 

Family will be deported if legal options fail

The Immigration Minister said that if the family had no matters before the court they would be deported, in line with Australia’s border policy.

Injunctions have prevented the family from being deported while the courts determine whether Tharnicaa is eligible for refugee protection.

“This family has applied for temporary protection on a number of occasions,” Mr Hawke said.

“It’s been through full judicials and merits review, including the AAT (Administrative Appeals Tribunal), the federal circuit court, the federal court, the high court and they’ve been found not to engage Australia’s protection obligations.”

He said he had made a “compassionate” decision today to allow the family to be together and have access to health and education support in Perth.