Federal election 2022
A family of asylum seekers who were forced to leave their home in the Queensland town of Biloela will be given a pathway to become Australian residents under a decision by the Albanese government to end years of dispute over their treatment.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued the decision on Friday in his capacity as Home Affairs Minister to give the four members of the Murugappan family bridging visas that allow them to return to Biloela when they wish.
The town of Biloela and the Murugappan family.Credit:Paul Harris
“Today, in my capacity as interim Minister for Home Affairs, I exercised my power under section 195A of the Migration Act 1958 to intervene in the case of the Murugappan family,” Dr Chalmers said in a statement.
“The effect of my intervention enables the family to return to Biloela, where they can reside lawfully in the community on bridging visas while they work towards the resolution of their immigration status, in accordance with Australian law.
“I have spoken to the family and wished them well for their return.”
Chalmers said the decision would allow the family to go “home to Bilo” – the phrase used by friends of the family to plead for their release – but he added that the government remained committed to Operation Sovereign Borders.
“Australian border protection authorities will intercept any vessel seeking to reach Australia illegally, and safely return those on board to their point of departure or country of origin,” he said.
Priya and Nadesalingam Murugappan, who arrived separately by boat about a decade ago, and their Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa, were detained on Christmas Island in August 2019 after earlier detention on the mainland while they sought refugee status in the courts. They were later moved to Perth after Tharnicaa, 3, suffered a blood infection.
Refugee advocate Jane Salmon welcomed the government’s decision on Friday but said many other families also needed help.
“We have to stop treating the family as icons and understand there are equally deserving families needing relief,” she said. “We’ve got to end all the cruelty, not just some of it.”
Salmon said the families who remained in limbo include some who arrived by aircraft as well as those who came by boat, highlighting the “arbitrary” treatment of people who should be given protection as refugees.
Nationals leader and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has called in the past for the family to be returned to Biloela and said on April 24 his position had not changed, but others within the Coalition held out against giving the family the right to stay in Australia.
In his last days as prime minister, Scott Morrison maintained that Australia owed the family no protection because the courts had not found them to be refugees. He was accused of misleading voters last week when he said the government could not give the family the appropriate visas to return to Biloela.
“That matter is still not determined in the courts,” Morrison told reporters when asked about the family by this masthead at the time. “There is no protection owed. They have not been found to be refugees. And so Australia’s rules do not permit permanent visas for people who have not been found to be refugees. That is the government’s policy. It hasn’t changed.”
Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary in the Department of Immigration, said last week time that federal law allowed the immigration minister to use his or her discretion to issue a visa.
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