_{Image Credit: HometoBilo}

The Tamil refugee family of four have been denied the ability to return to Biloela despite being granted a bridging visa as Australia's Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke, has refused to grant a visa to the youngest child, Tharnicaa.

The refusal to grant Tharnicaa a visa has meant that the entire family must remain in "community detention" in Perth. Supporters of the family assert that by continuing to withhold a bridging visa from Tharni, "Mr Hawke is preventing the family from coming home [to Biloela]". Hawke had permitted the three other family members Priya, Nades, and Kopika Muruguppan have been granted a further 12 months via bridging visas.

Earlier last week the Minister has decided to limit the family to only a three-month visa for the three eldest family members whilst lawyers representing the family appealed to the Australian Federal Circuit Court to permit the family to reapply for bridging visas.

The family of four has been fighting a long legal battle to remain in Australia since they were removed from their Biloela home in 2018. Since June, following the medical evacuation from Christmas Island of the youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, the family have been living in Perth. Supporters of the family expressed their surprise by the Minister's decision to withhold a visa from Tharnicaa, who was born in Queensland, “just like her sister Kopika” thereby preventing the family from returning to Biloela.

“Experienced migration lawyers tell us they have never heard of a child being denied the same visa granted to other family members in this way,” said family friend, Angela Fredericks.

Despite credible concerns over torture and extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka, the Department of Home Affairs in Australia has repeatedly maintained that the family does not meet the criteria for protected status. 

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