The decision by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke to grant the Biloela family community detention in Perth is welcome news. But it’s only a partial victory for advocates of the family.
The can has been kicked down the road. That is, the real moment in time will come when Hawke makes a decision either to allow the Murugappan family to settle in Australia permanently, or let them apply to settle in Australia.
The government hopes to make that decision more quietly. It would say that loudly doing so risks being seen as a pull factor by people smugglers.
Perhaps, but whether they like it or not nothing will be quietly done when it comes to decision making around this Tamil family.
That’s because they were unceremoniously torn away from a rural Queensland community that wanted them to stay. Put into detention before being flown off to Christmas Island where they have been held for the better part of two years.
The only family held at the island detention centre. The children locked behind the wire. At great expense to the taxpayer. More than $7m spent to house them on Christmas Island.
If the government doesn’t make a final decision on the family this side of the election, there is a chance it won’t find in their favour. Re-elected with three more years in power guaranteed, there is a risk that the Coalition finds against the family. At best shipping them off to another country. At worst deporting them.
All of which is why advocates for the family staying in Australia need to stay active.
To be sure, they were found to not be refugees. However that determination was under rules that have been criticised internationally. And while there have been rumours that the father was involved in Tamil terrorism, those scurrilous claims are entirely unsubstantiated.
Yes, advocates are asking for exceptionalism when it comes to this family. Some government MPs say that can’t happen. Not with 150 others in detention deemed not to be refugees. But exceptions occur all the time, including when it comes to asylum seekers granted rights. By the Howard government and yes, even by this Coalition government.
Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.
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