Received

The fate of a Tamil family detained for years while fighting for a permanent life in Australia rests entirely with the immigration minister after a blow in the High Court.

The court has refused to hear an appeal on behalf of the youngest member of the Murugappan family, four-year-old Tharnicaa, who was born in Australia along with her older sister.

Their hopes of returning to their home in the small country town of Biloela in Queensland now sit with Immigration Minister Alex Hawke who must, under an earlier Federal Court ruling that went the family's way, consider whether Tharnicaa can apply for a protection visa.

Supporters hope that if Tharnicaa can win a visa her entire family will too, with the government previously saying it would not split them up.

Tharnicaa, her father Nades, mother Priya and older sister Kopika are living in Perth, after the latter three were granted three-month bridging visas in June.

They were finally released from years of detention - the last stint on Christmas Island - after Tharnicaa was medically evacuated from the island with a blood infection that left her gravely ill.

In a video message after Thursday's High Court rejection, Priya thanked Australians who have backed their fight against deportation to Sri Lanka, where she and her husband fear persecution.

The family is fearful about what will happen next month when their bridging visas expire, and desperately want to return to their community in Biloela but can't due to a government requirement that they stay in Perth.

Priya says her daughters are still under the care of doctors including for their mental health with most of their lives spent in detention.

"But this could happen back in my community of Biloela. Biloela is where the girls will get better and be safe," she said in the video message.

The High Court's refusal to hear Tharnicaa's appeal did not surprise supporters who say the court rarely allows applications. But they are not giving up.

"There are other options still on the table. There is still that tremendous amount of community support for the family. This isn't the end of the road at all," Home To Bilo campaigner Simone Cameron told AAP.

Lawyers for the family will head back to the Federal Court on September 16 to challenge the minister's decision not to let the family apply for another bridging visa when their existing ones expire.

Ms Cameron said another matter is before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal challenging the government's decision to register the girls' births in Sri Lanka, even though they were born in Australia.

"Priya and Nades at no point wanted Sri Lankan citizenship for their daughters. We think the government did that to make it easier to deport them," she said.

Ms Cameron is also nervous about what will happen when the family's bridging visas expire.

"The migration act stipulates that if you are not a citizen, and you don't have a valid visa, then you are an unlawful, non-citizen and anyone who is an unlawful non-citizen should be put in immigration detention," she said.

"They are at great risk of being put back into detention as of September 22 if the minister doesn't lift the bar in the meantime."

In a brief statement Mr Hawke noted the High Court decision but said it would be inappropriate to comment further given the ongoing legal matters.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has again backed the family's fight to stay.

"They live in Biloela and I believe they should go home to Biloela," she said on Thursday.

Before they fled their homeland, Nades had links to Hindu Tamil Tigers insurgents, who battled Sri Lanka's majority Buddhist government during the country's civil war.

© AAP 2021

The High Court has refused to hear an appeal on behalf of a four-year-old girl whose Tamil family are fighting to avoid deportation and return home to the Queensland town of Biloela.

The litigation guardian of Tharnicaa Murugappan had sought special leave to appeal to the nation's highest court, but that was declined on Thursday.

Earlier this year the full bench of the Federal Court upheld a judge's ruling that Tharnicaa had been denied procedural fairness when trying to apply for a protection visa to stay in Australia.

However, the court also upheld a judgement that Tharnicaa had not made a valid visa application back in 2019 and the family sought to challenge that in the High Court.

In June Immigration Minister Alex Hawke granted three-month bridging visas to Tharnicaa's father Nades, mother Priya and older sister Kopika, who like Tharnicaa was born in Australia.

Mr Hawke said at the time his decision allowed the three family members to live in Perth "while the youngest child's medical care, and the family's legal matters, are ongoing" and that Tharnicaa's "visa status is unchanged".

Before Tharnicaa was born her parents applied for protection visas but were unsuccessful, as were their court challenges on fairness grounds.

The family had been in detention for three years, being kept on Christmas Island from August 2019 when an urgent injunction stopped their deportation mid-flight.

They moved back to the mainland after Tharnicaa needed hospital treatment for a blood infection.

The family and their advocates say they remain hopeful despite the High Court decision, because the Federal Court judgment compelled Mr Hawke to review Tharnicaa's eligibility for assessment as an asylum seeker.

"The matter is now in the hands of the immigration minister and he or she is able at any point in time to grant a visa including a visa that would allow the family to return to and live in Biloela where they would receive community support, stability, care and a sense of belonging," the family's lawyer Carina Ford said in a statement.

"The ethical, economic and compassionate decision to be made should be to allow them to stay and be returned home to Bilo."

Priya Murugappan said both her daughters were still having medical treatment.

"But this could happen back in my community of Biloela. Biloela is where the girls will get better and be safe," she said.

She and family friend Angela Fredericks appealed to the minister to let the family return to Biloela.

"It is really sad that we have a four-year-old needing to go to court against the Australian government, just to get them to look at the risk of being sent to a dangerous country she has never been to," Ms Fredericks said.

But in a brief statement Mr Hawke said as the family had a number of other ongoing legal matters, it was inappropriate to comment beyond noting the High Court decision.

© AAP 2021

More than a quarter of Australians aged 16 and 17 are allowed to drink at home, a study shows, with researchers warning parents against supervised consumption.

The newly released longitudinal report, based on interviews with almost 3000 teenagers and their families across the nation in 2016, found 28 per cent of that age group were granted permission to drink at home.

Almost a fifth (18 per cent) of the surveyed teenagers within two years of the legal drinking age were also allowed to take alcohol to parties or social events.

Of the teens who had drunk alcohol before, 23 per cent of those with parental permission had experienced alcohol-related harm compared to 17 per cent of their counterparts.

Dr Brendan Quinn, lead researcher of the Australian Institute of Family Studies report, said the findings exposed the risks of underage alcohol use at home or parties.

"All alcohol use is associated with a risk of experiencing associated harms," he said in a statement as the report was released on Thursday.

"In some cases, parents may be allowing their teenagers to drink at home in the belief that supervised alcohol consumption could facilitate a more responsible relationship with alcohol and reduce potential harm.

"However research suggests early alcohol use could lead to harmful drinking practices, both now and later in life."

Instead of granting permission, he suggested parents should encourage their children to delay their first drink for as long as possible.

"Open conversations about alcohol between parents and their children will help prepare young people to make informed decisions for times when they encounter alcohol outside of the home," Dr Quinn said.

OTHER 16 TO 17-YEAR-OLD DRINKING STATS FROM THE STUDY:

* About 30 per cent in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods allowed to drink at home, compared to 24 per cent in the most advantaged neighbourhoods

* About 35 per cent in outer regional or remote areas allowed to drink at home, compared to 30 per cent in inner regional areas and 25 per cent in major cities

© AAP 2021