Under controversial policies, Australia can hold asylum seekers like the Murugappans in indefinite detention while it assesses their refugee claims or takes steps to deport them.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - who won an election last Saturday - said his government would make an exception for the Murugappans.

"We are a strong enough society to say that we should not treat people badly, in order to send a message to others," he said on Friday.

"It's beyond my comprehension how this has gone on for so long, at enormous cost."

Priya Nadaraja and Nadesalingam Murugappan 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.

Each settled in outback Biloela, where they met, married and had two girls - Kopika, seven, and Tharnicaa, four.

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 long legal battle. A court injunction in 2019 ruled they could not be removed from the country until their case was resolved.

Last year, they were moved to community detention in Perth after Tharnicaa needed urgent medical care.

The family told the BBC last year that the conditions of their prolonged detention - and separation from their support base - had caused them significant harm.

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

Source:BBC

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