The Murugappan family will return to Biloela after the new Labor government intervened in their case, allowing them to reunite with supporters in the regional Queensland town.
Labor had promised to use ministerial intervention in the family's situation during the federal election - an action which supporters from Biloela of the Murugappan's had long campaigned for the previous Morrison government to take.
In a message through her friend Angela Fredericks of the Home to Bilo campaign, mother Priya Murugappan said: "Finally, everything is here. I cannot believe it. My prayer is that this government will make a change to the lives of every single refugee who comes here.
"All refugees are survivors. They need hope. I had the support of Nades and we had the support of the people of Bilo. But many others don't have that support. So I want to help."
In a statement released on Friday, Treasurer and Interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers said he had used these powers to allow the family to live in Biloela on bridging visas.
"The effect of my intervention enables the family to return to Biloela, where they can reside lawfully in the community on bridging visas while they work towards the resolution of their immigration status, in accordance with Australian law," he said.
"I have spoken to the family and wished them well for their return.
"This decision will allow them to get ‘home to Bilo’, a big-hearted and welcoming Queensland town that has embraced this beautiful family."
But the statement makes clear the family has not yet been granted visas to settle in Australia permanently.
Priya and Nadesalingam Murugappan, who arrived in Australia by boat, have attempted to seek asylum since being removed from their home in regional Queensland by Border Force officers in 2018 after their temporary visa expired.
Ms Fredericks said she had received a phone call from Mr Chalmers notifying them of the decision.
“We have then spoken with Priya and Nades and they share our overwhelming sense of joy and relief at this news," she said.
"We all welcome the decision to issue the entire family with bridging visas. But this family will never be safe until they have permanency in Australia."
The pair had married in Australia after fleeing Sri Lanka’s civil war and arriving separately on people smuggler boats in 2012 and 2013. Their girls Kopika and Tharnicaa were born in Australia.
They family was detained on Christmas Island in August 2019 after earlier detention on the mainland, and since then had been in a complex legal fight to seek refugee status.
The family have recently been living in Australia on bridging visas after being moved to Perth in June last year after Tharnicaa, 3, suffered a blood infection.
Because Tharnicca was not granted a visa the family had been required to remain there in community detention rather than moving back to Biloela.
But this obstacle has now been removed.
Ms Fredericks said the family intended to leave Perth in early June and start "rebuilding their lives."
"Their journey home to Bilo marks the end of a long, painful chapter in their lives, and the beginning of a lifetime of healing and recovery," she said.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison had maintained his government had no intention to intervene in the case because the family had not been determined to be refugees, despite making numerous protection claims through the legal system.
- With AAP
