Biloela family to be released from detention, government source confirms
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s review will make a ‘positive’ decision about the Biloela family’s case, a source says.
The Biloela Tamil family are set to be released from detention on Christmas Island, with a final decision from a ministerial review imminent.
A government source confirmed Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s ministerial review would make a “positive” decision about the family’s case.
It is unclear how long it would take for the family to be flown from Christmas Island to mainland Australia.
Plans underway for family to be reunited
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said plans were underway for the family to be reunited in Perth while their four-year-old daughter receives medical treatment in hospital.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is expected to decide within days whether to lift a bar that prevents the family, which lived in the Queensland town before being transferred to Christmas Island, from applying for non-refugee visas.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government is considering its options for the family, as it faces mounting internal calls to permanently resettle them in Australia. The Prime Minister said it was looking at potential outcomes consistent with health advice, humanitarian needs and its border policy.
Treatment of the family’s youngest child and Australian-born daughter Tharnicaa, 4, at Perth Children’s Hospital has renewed political and public scrutiny on their case.
Mr McCormack said work was underway to reunite Tharnicaa with her father and older sister who are currently on Christmas Island.
“I understand that the health authorities in WA also make these considerations as to whether the whole family gets reunited. But as I understand, there was work being done towards that,” he said.
Different if their names were ‘Jane and Sally’: Joyce
Earlier on Monday, Barnaby Joyce launched an attack on his own government, claiming the Biloela girls would be treated differently if their names were “Jane and Sally”.
Mr Joyce joined some of his Coalition colleagues in calling for the Biloela Tamil family in detention to be returned to their home in Queensland.
Mr Joyce said the two girls “didn’t buy their tickets” and had a right to stay in Australia “despite what the allegations might be about their parents”.
“Tharnicaa and Kopika were born in Australia. 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,” he told Channel 7.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said a ministerial review into whether the Biloela Tamil family can stay in Australia will make a determination based on “compassion” and “fairness.”
Mr Littleproud said the “rule of law” needed to guide the decision, not a “public campaign.”
“I have some real compassion for this family but the primary responsibility of a federal government is to keep its borders secure and its people secure,” he told Channel 9.
“Sometimes the laws that we put in place have unintended consequences but no one is beyond the law in this country.”
Growing pressure for permanent settlement
The Morrison government faces growing internal calls to allow the family to permanently settle in Australia and return to Biloela.
The federal government has spent $6.7m detaining the family since August 2019, when an 11th-hour court injunction prevented their deportation to Sri Lanka.
Treatment of Tharnicaa at Perth Children’s Hospital has renewed political and public scrutiny on their case.
Tharnicaa who was born in Australia, is being treated for pneumonia and a blood infection.
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer joined colleagues on Sunday in calling for a swift, “compassionate resolution” for the family, which has failed in multiple attempts to secure humanitarian visas. “I have advocated, including to the previous minister, about the family,” she told The Australian.
Liberal MPs, including Katie Allen, Trent Zimmerman and Jason Falinski, and Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd have also called for ministerial intervention to allow the family to settle in Australia.
‘Gone on for far too long’
Dr Allen said she wanted alternative migration pathways to be considered by the minister. Under section 195A of the Migration Act, a minister may grant a person in detention a visa if they believe it is in the public interest to do so.
“I’m keen to see a situation that is putting the health and wellbeing of innocent children at risk resolve as quickly as possible,” she said on Sunday.
“This has gone on for far too long.”
The outcome of Mr Hawke’s independent review could trigger him to enact his ministerial intervention powers, which would allow for several outcomes, including granting the family a visa.
The Department of Home Affairs provided a submission to Mr Hawke that outlined the family’s legal case. The outcome of the review is dependent on Mr Hawke’s discretion, with cabinet not involved in the process.
Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said the government should listen to calls within its own ranks.
“I’d say to Mr Morrison: let’s do the right thing and do what the community wants; do what your own backbenchers want,” Senator Wong said. “This is a family whose community in Biloela wants them back. This is a family who pose no risk to national security.”
Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch said it would set an difficult precedent if an exception was made for the family. “Thousands of others have tried to do the same thing and we are not going to open the gates and see the tragedies we saw back in the early 2000s where so many people lost their lives by trying to come over here by buying an outcome,” he said.
The MP for the Cairns-based seat of Leichhardt said his office has received hundreds of calls and emails from constituents wanting the government to allow the family to stay in Australia.
But Mr Entsch – who has previously been outspoken in opposing the government’s official position on other matters – said both parents’ claims for asylum had been individually assessed and rejected. “They had been told in no uncertain terms that having kids in Australia would not influence those decisions,” he said.
“My heart breaks for these kids – they are the victims.’’
Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two Australian-born children – Kopika and Tharnicaa – have sought refuge in Australia since 2012. The family was transferred to detention on Christmas Island in August 2019 after they were denied a visa to remain in Australia the previous year.
Additional reporting: Michael McKenna
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