Tamil family free to apply for return: Dutton

Peter Dutton has confirmed a Tamil family facing deportation will be eligible to apply to for a visa if they are deported.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: Colin Murty

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has confirmed a Tamil family facing deportation will be eligible to apply to return to Australia if they are sent back to Sri Lanka.

As the family of four await the result of a Federal Court hearing on Friday, Mr Dutton has continued to stare down Labor critics who want him to intervene and keep the family in the country.

Nadesalingam Murugappan and his wife, Kokilapath­mapriya Nadarasa, came to Australia from Sri Lanka illegally in 2012 and 2013 respectively and were rejected as refugees. They have been living in the rural town of Biloela on bridging visas, which expired last year, having had two children while in Australia.

Scott Morrison had earlier invited the family to apply to return, and the Home Affairs Minister on Thursday confirmed they would be able to apply for a visa.

“Anybody offshore can make application for a visa if they meet the conditions of the visa. So firstly it depends on what visa somebody is applying for,” he said in Brisbane.

“The usual checks would be in place but this family would be eligible to make application offshore, as thousands of people do each year.”

Nadesalingam Murugapan, Kokilapathmapriya Nadarasa and their children, Kopika, 4 and Tharunicaa, 2, during a visit on Christmas Island. Picture: Ten News

Labor has pushed for Mr Dutton to intervene and pointed to 4000 other cases he has stepped into, but the Home Affairs Minister said Anthony Albanese “doesn’t have any idea”.

“When you look at some of the comments he’s made in the last 24 hours, talking about thousands of cases being intervened in, he has no idea what he’s talking about,” Mr Dutton said.

“You cannot be a leader in this country, or aspire, as he is, to be prime minister of this country, if you are flipping and flopping, as Mr Albanese does. He says one thing, that he’ll stop the boats, and then in the next breath he says 6,000 people will be allowed to come in under a Labor government.”

Mr Albanese has repeatedly said that people who come illegally to Australia by boat will not be settled here. The law was changed when he was Kevin Rudd’s deputy prime minister in 2013.

On Thursday, Mr Albanese denied he had changed his policy on illegal boat arrivals.

“Ministerial discretion is there so that if there are particular circumstances around a case, the minister can say it is in Australia’s interests for people to be granted a visa,” he said in Brisbane.

“Now, Peter Dutton is happy to do that for au pairs when someone has his number. He’s not happy to do it when a regional community are saying that this family are integrated into the community”