The Biloela Tamil family will not be resettled in New Zealand or the United States, the Home Affairs minister said, after the federal government appeared to canvas the possibility this week.
A Tamil asylum-seeker family detained on Christmas Island cannot be resettled in New Zealand or the United States, the Home Affairs minister has confirmed, after the government appeared to canvas the possibility this week.
The family, including parents Priya Murugappan and husband Nades, three-year-old Tharnicaa and sister Kopika, five, have been detained on Christmas Island since August 2019 after an urgent court injunction blocked their deportation to Sri Lanka.Renewed attention has been placed on the family’s situation after Tharnicaa was medically evacuated for treatment at Perth Children's Hospital on Monday after more than 10 days of high fevers, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
"I do know that the Minister for Home Affairs, Ms Andrews, has indicated that there are two options there and the United States and New Zealand are both in the frame," she told 2GB radio. "We are negotiating with New Zealand in particular, and there is already a resettlement agreement for refugees with the United States. That is as far as it has gone from my point of view. And I have been very clear on that.
Mr Hawke is understood to have received a submission from the family in recent days. His review will decide whether to lift a statutory bar that prevents the family from applying for other visas in Australia.
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