Tamil family will be reunited on Australian mainland, Immigration Minister confirms

A family of Tamil asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island since 2019 will be allowed to live in Perth temporarily, but their long-term future in Australia remains unclear.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said he had used his powers under the Migration Act to allow the Murugappan family to live in Perth 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,” he 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.”

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Mr Hawke said the decision showed “appropriate compassion” in circumstances involving children in detention.

The Murugappan family were removed from their home in Biloela in 2018 when their visas expired.

The family has been separated for more than a week after Tharnicaa and her mother were flown from Christmas Island to Perth.

WA Health had requested they be reunited while she receives treatment.

The family lived in the regional Queensland community of Biloela prior to being detained. 

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Scott Morrison says permanent resettlement is not an option for Tamil asylum seeker family.

Angela Fredericks, a family friend and organiser of the group Home to Bilo, which is campaigning to get the family back to Biloela, said the Immigration Minister’s announcement was a welcome first step.

But she said it was for Mr Hawke and the Department of Home Affairs, and not the courts, to determine the family’s future in Australia.

“The Minister’s power to grant visas is completely independent from the decisions of any court,” Ms Fredericks said in statement.

“We cannot say what — or who — is preventing Minister Hawke from bringing this family home to Bilo. But it is not this court matter.”