Riverina MP Michael McCormack 'won't be lectured' over Biloela family in immigration detention

"It is a bit rich and I will not be lectured to by Labor, who under their watch put 8500 children in detention as part of more than 50,000 people who arrived on 800 boats," Mr McCormack said.

Mr McCormack was answering questions in Parliament on Tuesday on Scott Morrison's behalf while the Prime Minister is at the G7 Summit in the United Kingdom,

"The government has kept four-year-old Tharnicaa in detention for most of her young life," Labor leader Anthony Albanese asked Mr McCormack in Parliament.

"The Biloela community, I know, has made it clear that they want Tharnicaa's family to come home.

"Why won't the government let this family go home to Bilo?"

The Muruguppan family is the process of being reunited in Perth after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke determined on Tuesday that they could reside in community detention instead of Christmas Island during their legal battle against deportation.

In other news

"These matters in relation to immigration are never easy, they are difficult, they are complicated," Mr McCormack told Parliament.

"The Minister for Immigration has made a statement this morning to ensure the support and the health outcomes will be there in Perth for them.

"We will continue to support the family."

Tharnicaa, one of the family's two Australian-born daughters was last week flown to Perth for medical treatment after developing pneumonia and sepsis.

Mr McCormack as acting Prime Minister repeatedly warned over the weekend that granting an exemption for the Muruguppan family, whose parents arrived by boat, would risk the return of people smuggling and deaths at sea.

"I was here in the House [of Representatives] when sadly those people who tried that risk voyage were dashed up on the rocks and did not survive that," Mr McCormack said in Parliament on Tuesday.

"We do not know how many people lost their lives attempting to make that risky voyage."

Mr McCormack's response was interrupted by shouting from opposition MPs and again by the Speaker who determined he had strayed from answering Mr Albanese's question.

Documents released last week showed Mr McCormack passed on a letter from a Temora resident to the Immigration Minister in 2019 that argued for granting the Muruguppan family asylum in Australia.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: