What comes next for the Tamil family from Biloela?
After more than 18 months on Christmas Island, the Tamil family from Biloela will be moved into community detention in Perth after the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said the family would be allowed to reunite on the Australian mainland while they pursue ongoing legal action. Heres what we know so far. Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa, have been held on Christmas Island since August 2019, after a court injunction prevented them being deported to Sri Lanka. Priya and Nades arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 and 2013, and all members of the family except for Tharnicaa have exhausted their legal attempts to be granted refugee status. The family was living and working in the community in the Queensland regional town of Biloela up until March 2018, when their visas expired. A community-led campaign to return them to the town began after they were removed from home at 5am and put into detention. Tharnicaa, with her mother, was moved to a Perth hospital last week suffering from sepsis and pneumonia. On Tuesday the government announced the rest of the family would be moved to Perth where they will be held in community detention while legal matters are ongoing. On Christmas Island the family were held in detention in a unit in the detention centre with very few allowances to leave, except for community centre trips organised days in advance, or Kopika being taken to school by guards. Community detention is not permanent resettlement  it is not even a pathway to a visa while their case is ongoing. Hawke said on Tuesday he had not made a decision on lifting the bar which currently prevents a visa application being made. In community detention in Perth the family will have more freedom. They will be allowed to live in a home, go to school, and go shopping and travel around Perth, but it is still a long way from what it was like for them living in Biloela. The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said the family would be allowed to reunite on the Australian mainland while they pursue ongoing legal action. The requirements of community detention mean they cannot leave Perth, so they will not be able to return to Biloela. Hawke has yet to make a decision to lift the bar to allow for Tharnicaa to apply for a visa, as required by the ongoing court case. He has not yet said when that will happen, but he has said he needs more time to assess medical information provided by the familys lawyers. Ford said the records show the family has significant mental health issues as a result of being in immigration detention for so long. Under 46A and 48B of the Migration Act, Hawke has the power to allow the family to apply for a visa if he believes it is in the public interest to do so. The family has two cases before Australian courts. In the first, the familys lawyers are seeking leave to appeal to the high court regarding Tharnicaas case. The second is a citizenship case before the administrative appeals tribunal, which is separate from the high court case. Ministers have repeatedly avoided commenting on the case by stating it is before the courts, however Ford said if the minister exercised his power to intervene at any time to allow them to remain in Australia, it would stop the high court case from proceeding. If the minister was to intervene, the high court application would go away, she said. Hawke said on Tuesday he can make exceptions and he had to consider their case, but that people who arrived by boat, as they did, could not be settled in Australia. The governments policy has been absolutely clear for many years  that no one arriving by boat will settle permanently here, he said. Tharunicaa (R), and her sister, Kopika Murugappan. Photograph: Change.org Australia Handout/EPA  That is the government position and as a minister I must consider particular matters and if there are matters that arise, I will consider those and make a decision. The Department of Home Affairs has said the cost of detaining the family, including staffing, healthcare and ongoing legal costs between August 2019 and January 2021, has been $6.7m. A total breakdown of their detention costs, including in Melbourne before they were taken to Christmas Island, has never been provided, but in October 2019 Home Affairs told the Senate the total cost of their detention in Melbourne and then two months on Christmas Island had been $2.5m. Ford said on Tuesday community detention still costs taxpayers money. And I dont reflect that it does really meet Australian community expectations, Ford said. If I could add that, of all the emails that weve received we have so far only received one email, or one message, that it has been against what we have been doing.