A decision is likely to be made as early as Tuesday to re-unite the Tamil asylum seeker family from Biloela who’ve been held on Christmas Island for three years.
Four-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan is being treated in Perth Children's Hospital for a serious blood infection after she was flown from immigration detention on Christmas Island to the hospital last week with her mother.
They remain separated from Tharnicaa's older sister and father, who remain in detention.
SBS News understands the Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is preparing to make an announcement within 24 hours about their future, and is likely to release them from detention so they can all be together in Perth during Tharnicaa’s treatment.
Travel plans could be arranged within a matter of days to allow that to happen.
Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Thursday said work to have them transferred to Tharnicaa's hospital bedside was underway.
The decision to bring the whole family to the mainland from Christmas Island comes as a growing number of Coalition MPs have expressed their support for the family to remain in Australia.
"I understand, they are being reunited in Perth as we speak," Mr McCormack told journalists on Monday, after the West Australian Department of Health requested that Tharnicaa's father, Nades, and five-year-old sister Kopika be brought to Perth.
"Of course, we've also got COVID considerations and like, so these are difficult circumstances ... but as I understand, there was work being done towards that."
The Department of Home Affairs is yet to confirm whether Nades and Kopika will be transferred from the remote island. A spokesperson from the Home to Bilo campaign - a group of friends and supporters who advocate on behalf of the family - told SBS News they had spoken to Nades this morning and he was still on Christmas Island.
Meanwhile, a growing number of backbench MPs have expressed their support for the family-of-four who have been in immigration detention for more than three years, putting pressure on the government to act ahead of Parliament resuming on Tuesday.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce was the latest Coalition politician to take aim at the government over the family's treatment, telling Seven on Monday the two Australian-born girls would have been treated differently if "their names were Jane and Sally and they were playing in the local netball side".
The family has been in detention since 2018. Source: Supplied
“Send them to Sri Lanka, why not send them to South Sudan, send them to Rwanda, send them to Belarus, because they are also countries they were never born in," the former Nationals leader said.
“These people should be staying here. I know that is going to leave me offside with other people in my party but I've done it before, and I'll do it again and that is one of those instances where I will do precisely that."
But not all Coalition MPs are convinced, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told ABC News on Sunday.
“No one is beyond the law in this country,” he said, “there’s a legal process that’s still going and I think over the coming couple of days, the Immigration Minister will make a determination about how we can do something, not just with compassion, but with fairness."
Asked about the family's future during his G7 trip, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government's number one priority was providing medical care to Tharnicaa.
"Other options that both are consistent with the government's policy when it comes to these matters as well as the need to provide the appropriate humanitarian and health support, are being worked through right now," he said.
Tharnicaa was medically evacuated from the remote island alongside her mother, Priya, on Monday, after more than 10 days of high fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
The family’s lawyer, Carina Ford, told ABC News on Monday she was waiting to see what happens “on the Government’s side”. “The power does rest with Minister Hawke, that is who the power under the Act is given to," she said.
It is understood Mr Hawke is reviewing a significant amount of documentation on the family, including submissions from the family’s lawyer and the Department of Home Affairs.
When finished, he could opt to use his discretion to grant the family a visa under Section 195A of the Migration Act, lift the bar for the family to reapply for a protection visa, despite previous determinations, or do nothing and allow the court process to run its course.
Mr Hawke declined to comment on the matter to SBS News on Sunday as the matter was still before the courts.
The Department of Home Affairs has previously found the family’s case does not meet Australia’s protection obligations.
The protracted legal battle currently hinges on Tharnicaa’s right to apply for protection after the other three family members exhausted their appeal options.
In February, the that found when her application for a protection visa was assessed.
The parties are now applying for the matter to be heard in the High Court.
Tharnicaa marked her fourth birthday in hospital on Saturday. She has never celebrated a birthday outside of immigration detention.
With reporting by Anna Henderson
