The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, is set to announce on Tuesday that the Murugappan family will be released from detention on Christmas Island and allowed to reunite on the Australian mainland. Hawke will use his ministerial discretion to allow the family to return but the government is not expected to make any substantive changes to their visa status which is still being argued in the courts. It is expected the family will be allowed to live in community detention while their legal appeals against deportation are finalised. This has left the family to argue its case that Tharnicaa was denied procedural fairness by the decision. That is not the government’s policy,” Morrison said in response to a question about whether the family would be settled in Australia.

Source: The Guardian June 14, 2021 03:53 UTC