Australia: Tamil asylum seeker family granted permanent visas after four-year battle

Melbourne: A family who became the public face of Australia's tough asylum-seeker policies will be allowed to stay in the country after a four-year battle.

The Nadesalingam family was detained in 2018 after their claim for protection was rejected, BBC reported on Friday.

Their treatment sparked outcry and a national campaign for their return to the outback Queensland town of Biloela.

They have now been granted visas due to their "complex and specific circumstances", the BBC quoted the government as saying.

Priya Nadaraja says the decision has given her family "peace" at last.

"Now I know my daughters will get to grow up safely in Australia. Now my husband and I can live without fear," she said in a statement, BBC reported.

Priya and her husband Nades arrived in Australia on separate boat trips nearly a decade ago, and sought asylum. They said they feared persecution in Sri Lanka because of their Tamil ethnicity.

The couple met in outback Biloela, married and had two girls - Kopika, 7, and Tharnicaa, 5.

But the government detained them in 2018 after ruling the family had no legal right to be in Australia.

Locals in Biloela fought for them to stay, kicking off a campaign that won national support and the backing of MPs from across the political spectrum, the BBC report said.

Supporters include new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who had pledged to allow the family to return to their adopted hometown in Biloela if elected.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles on Friday said the government has kept its promise. But he stressed that immigration policies have not changed.

Australia can hold asylum seekers like the Nadesalingam family in indefinite detention while it assesses their refugee claims or takes steps to deport them.

It also has a policy of not allowing asylum seekers to arrive by boat, and maintains a system of offshore detention.

"We are not considering changing this policy," Giles said. "I do not want people to die in a boat on a journey when there is zero chance of settling in Australia."

Australia argues its strict policies on asylum seekers prevent human trafficking and deaths at sea, but the UN has criticised its approach as inhumane. (UNI)