Extract from ABC News
By political reporter Georgia Hitch
The Immigration Minister has said he believes allowing a family of Tamil asylum seekers to resettle in Australia permanently would lead to more people trying to illegally get to the mainland by boat.
Key points:
- Alex Hawke says allowing the family to stay would 'absolutely' restart the people-smuggling trade
- The family have been allowed to reunite in Perth while the youngest daughter receives medical care
- Mr Hawks says if current legal bids by the family fail they will be deported
Alex Hawke has intervened to allow the Murugappan family to live in Perth while four-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan undergoes treatment in hospital, but he said the government's position on permanent resettlement was clear.
"We do not believe anyone who has come by boat should be allowed to be permanently resettled in Australia," he said.
"That's been tested at several elections.
"The people smugglers are there, they watch developments closely, they take account of any decisions we make. We have to make a tough decision to continue our border protection, but it is the right decision, because the trade in human misery means lost life, it means more expense and a loss of social cohesion."
He said it did not matter whether a case came to the public's attention or not, the government's stance would not change.
Nadesalingam Murugappan, better known as Nades, arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 to seek asylum from persecution in Sri Lanka.
According to court documents from June 2018, Nades claimed he was forced to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2001.
The Tamil Tigers fought to create an independent state during a bloody 26-year civil war but were defeated in 2009.
Tamils report that they still face retribution, and Nades has said he was harassed by the Sri Lankan military and bore scars from a government bomb blast.
Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam, known as Priya, also arrived by boat in 2013 to seek asylum.
Priya has said she fled Sri Lanka after she saw her then-fiance and five other men from her village burned alive by the army.
The family were granted temporary bridging visas and settled in the central Queensland town of Biloela, which welcomed them.
Mr Hawke said it was safe for the family to return to Sri Lanka.
But a friend of the family, Brownyn Dendle, said it was "absolutely not safe" for them to go back.
"Even recent international findings have shown that the reports that have been given to our government about the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka are based on a lot of inaccuracies," she said.
"So when a government … bureaucrat processes someone's claim and they see on the dept website that Sri Lanka is safe for Tamils, then a lot of people aren't going to get the safety that is owed to them."
Family will be deported if legal options fail
The Immigration Minister said that if the family had no matters before the court they would be deported, in line with Australia's border policy.
Injunctions have prevented the family from being deported while the courts determine whether Tharnicaa is eligible for refugee protection.
Mr Hawke said there was an application before him to allow the family's lawyers to make an application for Tharnicaa to stay, and a second application for him to make an exception and grant the family a permanent visa if it is in the "public interest".
He said he could not comment on either as they were ongoing, but that if she was found to be "owed protection obligations" then it would impact the status of the rest of her family members.
"This family has applied for temporary protection on a number of occasions," Mr Hawke said.
"It's been through full judicial and merits review, including the AAT (Administrative Appeals Tribunal), the federal circuit court, the federal court, the high court and they've been found not to engage Australia's protection obligations."
He said he had made a "compassionate" decision to allow the family to be together and have access to health and education support in Perth.
"Everyone has compassion towards the two children and the two beautiful little girls in this family," Mr Hawke said.
"Everyone is responsible for what has occurred, including the families and the lawyers and the activists and the government."
The family's lawyer welcomed Mr Hawke's decision to allow the family to be moved to the mainland, but said it was a long way from what they were hoping for.
"It would have been lovely to be able to stand here and say, 'they're going home to Bilo, this is an exceptional case, it doesn't mean the boats will continue, we just need to move on and not make an example of these children,'" lawyer Carina Ford said.
"We're not there yet, it still is in the Minister's hands."
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