Three members of the Murugappan family who were detained on Christmas Island after being told they could not stay in their home town of Biloela have been granted three-month bridging visas, meaning the parents can work and the children can attend school in Perth.
The Tamil asylum seeker family was reunited in Perth last week after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his powers to move them off Christmas Island, where they had been since August 2019, into community detention.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has given the Murugappan family three-month bridging visas.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen/Supplied
On Wednesday Mr Hawke agreed to an application under a section of the Migration Act that allows him to grant visas in the public interest.
This decision allows three members of the family to reside in the Perth community on bridging visas while the youngest childs medical care, and the familys legal matters, are ongoing. The fourth family members visa status is unchanged, Mr Hawke said in a statement.
The family will continue to have access to health care, support services, housing and schooling in the Perth community.
Nadesalingam and Priya Murugappan fled Sri Lanka separately, coming by boat to Australia in 2012 and 2013 respectively. They met and married in Australia and had two daughters Kopika, 6, and Tharnicaa, 4 after settling in Biloela. But along the way, courts and tribunals all the way up to the High Court have ruled the parents dont have refugee status.
Distressing images of Tharnicaa and Kopika in a Christmas Island hospital room reignited public debate about the familys situation, leading Coalition MPs to press the familys case with Mr Hawke.
Priya, Nades and Kopika have been given the three-month bridging visas, valid until September 2021. They are not in community detention, but Tharnicaa is, which ensures the family can stay in the house the government placed them in after leaving Christmas Island while she continues her weeks of medical care.
Todays news is another huge step in the long journey home for Priya and her family, but still there is no certain pathway home to Bilo, friend of the family Angela Fredericks said in a statement.