Australia relents on Tamil family, but won?t allow them home

Murugappans moved to ‘community detention’ in Perth – thousands of kilometres from their home – while youngest daughter battles deadly infection.Australia says it will allow a Tamil family of four to leave immigration detention on remote Christmas Island, but instead of allowing them to return to their home in Queensland will place them into “community detention” in the western city of Perth, some 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles) away.The Murugappans, whose two children were born in Australia, were sent to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, after the asylum claims of parents Nades and Priya were rejected, and while the courts considered their legal appeals and the situation of their youngest daughter, Tharunicca.Their plight was thrust into the spotlight again last week after the three-year-old had to be medically evacuated to a Perth hospital because of a serious blood infection thought to have developed as a result of pneumonia that had been left untreated.Immigration minister Alex Hawke, who did not mention the family by name, said that in making his decision he was “balancing the government’s ongoing commitment to strong border protection policies with appropriate compassion in circumstances involving children in held detention”.Angela Fredericks, a friend of the Murugappans who has been leading the campaign for their return, said that while news the family would be reunited was welcome, they should be allowed to return to Biloela.“Community detention is no guarantee of safety and peace for this family,” Fredericks said in a statement.