A Sri Lankan asylum seeker family who were detained for three years on Christmas Island have been granted bridging visas which allow them to work and study in Perth for three months.
Last week the Murugappan family were reunited on the Australian mainland after being granted a community detention order by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
Father Nadesalingam ‘Nades’ Murugappan and his daughter Kopika, six, flew to Perth to meet mother Priya and their four-year-old daughter Tharnicaa who was receiving medical care at a Perth Hospital for a blood infection.
A heartwarming photograph showed the family together with friends and supporters on Thursday.
On Wednesday Mr Hawke revealed he had granted the parents and eldest daughter Kopika bridging visas so they can work and study while their legal dispute is ongoing.
‘Yesterday at the request of the Sri Lankan family formerly resident in Christmas Island, I exercised my power under section 195A of the Migration Act, granting members of the family 3 month Bridging Visas, providing work and study rights,’ he said in a statement.
‘Under section 195A a Minister can intervene to grant a person a visa if it is in the public interest to do so.
‘This decision allows three members of the family to reside in the Perth community on bridging visas while the youngest child’s medical care, and the family’s legal matters, are ongoing. The fourth family member’s visa status is unchanged.
‘The family will continue to have access to health care, support services, housing and schooling in the Perth community.’
The Sri Lankan Tamil couple arrived in Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013, during their country’s civil war.
They met in Sydney and later settled in Biloela, Queensland where they had two daughters.
They were detained three years ago when their bridging visas ran out but their lawyers have been fighting deportation since, claiming they will be persecuted in Sri Lanka.
Pictured: The Tamil asylum-seeker family of four are pictured with family and friends in Perth
It has been almost three years since they saw their friends on the mainland of Australia
Kopika was born in 2015 and Tharnicaa in 2017 – both in Australia.
In 2018 the family were removed from Biloela and placed in the Broadmeadows detention centre in Melbourne, before being taken to the offshore detention centre at Christmas Island in 2019.
They were detained on Christmas Island for more than two years and reunited at Perth Hospital this week, where Tharnicaa was being treated.
Nades and Kopika of the Biloela family board a plane on Christmas Island bound for Perth on Tuesday (pictured at the airport) to be reunited with her sister and mother
The federal government is under mounting pressure to let the Sri Lankan asylum seeker family stay in Australia, where both children were born.
There was widespread outrage across the country after it was revealed young Tharnicaa was sent to the mainland with her mother for treatment while her father and sister remained at the detention centre.
The Biloela family have been detained on Christmas Island for more than two years (pictured, Nades and Kopika wave goodbye to the island)
The federal government has been weighing up what to do with the Sri Lankan asylum seeker family as it faces mounting pressure to let them stay in Australia, where both of their children were born. Pictured: Nades and Kopika of the Biloela family prepare to board a plane to Perth
The decision allows the family to earn and study while they pursue ongoing litigation before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal Court and High Court.
But the decision does not create a pathway for a permanent visa.
‘The Government’s position on border protection has not changed. Anyone who arrives in Australia illegally by boat will not be resettled permanently,’ Mr Hawke said last week.
‘Anyone who is found to not be owed protection will be expected to leave Australia.’
Family friend Angela Fredericks said the decision to let the family off Christmas Island was a welcome one for the long-suffering asylum seekers, but called for more to be done to bring the family back to their North Queensland home, Biloela.
‘Bringing this family back together is the first important step in getting them home to Bilo,’ Ms Fredericks said.
‘We are pleased that the Department of Home Affairs is finally taking this family off Christmas Island, after more than three years of sub-standard care in immigration detention in Melbourne and on Christmas Island.
‘Nades is keen to get back to work in Biloela to support his young family, which he cannot do while the family is forced into community detention.
‘Priya wants to enrol Kopika at Biloela State School to continue her education. And we promised little Tharni a big birthday party when she got home.
‘Australia knows this family’s home is in Biloela.’
Tharnicaa Murugappan (pictured) was medically evacuated to Perth after being hospitalised on Christmas Island with a suspected blood infection
Pressure has been mounting on Scott Morrison Morrison to let the family stay in Australia, with politicians from across the spectrum calling for them to be allowed to return to their adopted home of Biloela in Queensland.
He has signalled the government could finally back away from its hardline stance and allow the family to stay in Australia, at least on a temporary basis.
‘There are options that are being considered that are consistent with both health advice and the humanitarian need and the government’s policy,’ Mr Morrison said last week.
Kopika (left) gets taken to school by guards while Priya stays inside to look after four-year-old Tharunicaa (right)
However, the prime minister said permanent resettlement was out of the question.
‘That wouldn’t be government policy for a pathway to permanent settlement – that is not the government’s policy.’
Nine health organisations representing tens of thousands of medical professionals across Australia have signed an open letter calling for the family’s release.
Paediatrician Jacqueline Small from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians said the children must be allowed to develop and grow in the community.
Tharnicaa reads a book from her bed in Perth hospital on Thursday where she is being treated for sepsis. The announcement comes amid growing calls for the federal government to resettle the family
‘We feel very strongly keeping these children in held detention, particularly offshore detention, represents an extreme and unacceptable risk to the children’s health, development and mental wellbeing,’ she told ABC radio.
‘Given both children were in held detention from their toddlerhood, the risks are even higher.’
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce – who reclaimed leadership this week – has supported calls for the family to stay in Australia for more than two years.
‘Tharnicaa and Kopika were born in Australia,’ he told Network Seven.
‘Now, maybe if their names were Jane and Sally and they were playing in their local netball side, we’d think twice about sending them back to another country which they’re not from.’
Father Nades and Kopika, six, are set to reunite with mother Priya and Tharnicaa in Perth
Mr Joyce also argued Mr and Mrs Murugappan had jobs and were valued members of their local community.
‘In regional Australia, we need people who have jobs. These people should be staying here.’
Labor leader Anthony Albanese rejected the argument showing the family compassion and exercising discretion would somehow restart the people-smuggling trade.
‘This is about a family who are here, this is not a threat to our national sovereignty,’ he said.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese rejected the argument that allowing the family to settle would somehow restart the people-smuggling trade. Pictured: Priya and Nades