Tharnicaa (right) was medically evacuated to the Australian mainland last week [Source: BBC]
Australia has released a refugee family from Christmas Island, after their youngest child was flown to the mainland for medical care.
The family will now be allowed to live together in Perth while they pursue legal action related to their immigration status.
Four-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan was evacuated to a Perth hospital last week after contracting a blood infection.
Her medical condition reignited public concern for the family’s welfare.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the father, Nades, and eldest child, Kopika, 6, would be flown to Perth on Monday where they can join Tharnicaa and mother, Priya.
The family has been separated for more than a week.
They will live in “community detention” – government housing in Perth’s suburbs – where they will be monitored but free to move around while Tharnicaa undergoes treatment in hospital.
Previously, they had been held in a detention compound on Christmas Island – an Australian external territory – where they had been monitored daily by security guards.
Tharnicaa also developed pneumonia and her family says her treatment was delayed while on the island.
