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Australia lets refugee family go free from Christmas Island after public pressure

4 years ago
4 years ago
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Australia has freed a Tamil refugee family from Christmas Island to live together in Perth after continued pressure on the Scott Morrison government following the hospitalisation of the family’s youngest child

June 16, 2021: Australia has freed a Tamil refugee family from Christmas Island to live together in Perth after continued pressure on the Scott Morrison government following the hospitalisation of the family’s youngest child.

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Australia has released a Tamil refugee family from Christmas Island to live together in Perth after constant pressure on the Scott Morrison government after the family’s youngest child was hospitalized. The father, Nadesalingam Muruggapan, and the couple’s eldest daughter, Kopika, boarded a flight to Perth on Monday to reunite with their family nine days later. He had previously separated from the other two members of the family – the children’s mother, Priya, and his youngest daughter Tharnicca, who had a blood infection and needed medical attention.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said a family of four would be allowed to stay in a community detention center in Perth, while Tharnicca was being treated at the city’s children’s hospital. “In making this decision, I will continue to deal with ongoing litigation, court cases, and issues before me as a minister, as opposed to the long-term detention of children for long-term detention,” Mr Hawk said in a press conference. “Doing so will ensure that the children of the family have access to community services, health care, schools and other facilities for the government and the Australian public while final issues are being resolved,” he said.

He also said that despite the decision to allow the family to live together in Perth, their long-term future in Australia was unclear as legal efforts to grant them refugee status continued. “There has been no change in their immigration status and that is why I have decided, on a balanced basis, to keep the family in the Australian community as a sympathetic decision when they raise issues with the government,” he said.

The Murrugappans, a Tamil family from Sri Lanka, has been at the centre of a national outcry since they were sent to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean after their asylum claims were rejected, and while the courts considered their legal appeals.

Attempts were also made to deport the family in 2019. However, a federal court judge issued a last-minute restraining order after boarding a flight to Sri Lanka. Ndsalingam and Priya arrived in Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013 as refugees and sought asylum. They met and married in Australia in 2014. Their two daughters were born in this country but are not entitled to Australian citizenship by birth. He lived in the rural Biloela community in Queensland before moving to a detention center.

Rights groups and activists have been demanding to bring them back to their home and the pressure increased after Tharunicca’s illness.

In a statement that accompanied the photos of dad and daughter boarding the plane, the campaigning group Home To Bilo, which has been demanding their return to the Queensland community, welcomed the impending reunion.

“After nine long days, this family is finally being reunited. When will they be allowed #HomeToBilo?” the group said.

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