On 15 June, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke released a statement on his decision regarding the fate of the Murugappan family, one half of whom were in Perth, the other on Christmas Island. The family, he concluded, would be able to ‘reside in the Perth community.’ Hawke’s decision took into account ‘the government’s ongoing commitment to strong border protection policies with appropriate compassion in circumstances in children in held detention.’

During the course of their community detention placement, the family would have access to schools and support services, with the youngest daughter Tharnicaa able to receive medical treatment from the Perth Children’s Hospital. As this happened, they would continue to exhaust their legal options to remain in the country. ‘Importantly,’ warned Hawke, ‘today’s decision does not create a pathway to a visa.’
In that most qualified way, the Minister announced on 23 June that he had issued bridging visas to enable the ‘three members of the family to reside in the Perth community… while the youngest child’s medical care, family’s legal matter, are ongoing.’ Hawke had refused to use his available powers under section 195A of the Migration Act to change the status of Tharnicaa. ‘The fourth family member’s visa status is unchanged.’ Predictably, that tireless advocate for the family Angela Fredericks wondered ‘what precisely’ the minister’s objective was ‘in denying little Tharni’.
The decision was made as an exception to the rule. It is one that has marked the refugee politics of the LNP and Labor Parties since the dying days of the Rudd government: those arriving by boat without valid documentation will not be permitted to settle in Australia, being designated illegal maritime arrivals.
The Murugappan family have found themselves in the middle of this nasty tangle, their fates politicised and manipulated. Nadesalingam Murugappan and Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam both arrived by boat in 2012 and 2013 respectively. They married in Australia and had children, Tharnicaa and Kopika. As they were awaiting the assessment of their claims, they made a home in Biloela. The central Queensland town took to them.
In 2018, the family was removed from Biloela and detained in Melbourne. The Department of Home Affairs saw no merit in their asylum claims, despite the genuine dangers that would face a returning Tamil family with suspected links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). While deportation to Sri Lanka was foiled by a Federal Court injunction, the family was then moved to Christmas Island in August 2019.
The legal issues have prolonged the suffering of the family. The Federal Court finding that Tharnicaa was not granted ‘procedural fairness’ in her protection visa application was upheld in February by the Full Court. Just to complicate matters, the judges noted that the Immigration Minister had no obligation to allow Tharnicaa to make that application for protection in the first place.
'The most telling, even grotesque, aspect of how the Murugappan family has been treated lies in its cynicism.'
The poor conditions on Christmas Island had their consequences. Both children became vitamin D deficient. Infections were contracted. Tharnicaa, the youngest, had surgery to remove her decayed teeth. At the start of this month, she contracted pneumonia and a blood infection. Medical staff on Christmas Island were initially unmoved: she looked ‘active and fine’. Eventually, Tharnicaa was evacuated with her mother to Perth Children’s Hospital, Western Australia.
The family have since become an example of instrumental and political convenience. The most obvious policy response would have been to return them to Biloela. But to do so, according to Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, would be to succumb to ‘public opinion and the mob’.
In an effort not to succumb, Foreign Minister Marise Payne floated the option that the family might be resettled in New Zealand or the United States. This was rapidly scotched by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews. The arrangements with both countries involved refugees. ‘This family does not have refugee status.’
But the mob’s voice, as Littleproud had unceremoniously termed it, had worried government backbenchers. In the political stock exchange, the value of keeping the Murugappan family in hostile conditions away from Biloela was diminishing. Conversely, the value of showing compassion and returning them to the mainland was growing.
Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman revealed to the ABC breakfast news audience that Hawke would be ‘considering an application to use his powers to give an exemption to the normal requirements.’ Ken O’Dowd, whose federal seat takes in Biloela, continued to be unrelenting in lobbying the immigration minister ‘to move on’ as ‘everyone’s just about had enough’. He had realised ‘from the word go that it was always going to be an issue.’
As ever, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce’s radar for votes remained operational. ‘Tharnicaa and Kopika were born in Australia,’ he observed. If they had been of different hue and background, it might not have come to this. ‘Maybe if their names were Jane and Sally we’d think twice about sending them back to another country which they’re not from.’
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was visibly alarmed by this sudden lionising of the family. He warned of a ‘return’ of ‘the boats’ that such sudden reserves of compassion could cause. Zimmerman was not ‘in parliament when some of those ships were lost at sea, some of those leaky boats were dashed up against rocks and all lives lost. I was. I remember the heartache, I remember the loss.’
The most telling, even grotesque, aspect of how the Murugappan family has been treated lies in its cynicism. It is cynicism about a policy that supposedly saves lives that would be lost at sea while discriminating against those exercising their right to asylum. It is cynicism about prolonging suffering and harm in the name of a hollow humanitarianism.
Finally, it is cynicism about massaging the wishes of an electorate long hardened against refugees and people seeking asylum. Of this, former Liberal MP Julia Banks was in little doubt. [T]hese MPs (including a paediatrician) have been watching the cruelty, harm and torture and suddenly said “ok, enough now…stop it, we’ve got an election to win.” Disgusting.’
Dr Binoy Kampmark is a former Commonwealth Scholar who lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Main image: Protestors holding two placards with the shortened names of Kokilapathmapriya Nadesalingam (Priya) and Nadesalingam Murugappan (Nades) (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)