The Biloela family is set to be reunited on the mainland, after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke this morning announced that the family would be moved to community detention in Perth, following a long weekend of intense debate and protest. Hope that the keenly awaited announcement might contain a longer-term solution for the Murugappan family was quickly dashed, with Hawke’s press release making clear that the move would “not create a pathway to a visa”, with their immigration status remaining unchanged. Throughout the day, Hawke and his Coalition colleagues were eager to quash any remaining hope of a return to Biloela, even as friends, lawyers, protesters and public commentators continued to appeal to their better natures. In an interview on Sky News, Hawke continued to trot out the government talking points about disincentivising people smugglers, claiming that granting the family of four a permanent visa would “absolutely” start a flood of boats, while Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told the ABC that community detention was a “fair decision”, adding that no one was “above the law”. In a brief pre-Question Time presser, Hawke said the government “makes clear” that it would not weaken its resolve on borders, returning to some of the Coalition’s harsher rhetoric around “IMAs” (“illegal marine arrivals”) and the people smugglers who “trade in human misery”. Contrary to Hawke’s claim, the government’s halfway measure – taking the family off Christmas Island, while ramping up alarmist language about resettling them – makes very little clear, but one thing is certain: the government wants this issue off the table, and thinks community detention might be the way to make it disappear, at least for now.

The plight of the family dominated both major party rooms in Canberra today, as MPs returned for a two-week sitting period with the prime minister still out of the country. In Labor’s caucus meeting, leader Anthony Albanese labelled the government’s decision to release the family into community detention a “pathetic announcement”, saying it was possible to be “strong on borders without being weak on humanity”. But over in the Coalition’s meeting, MPs were busy convincing themselves the stopgap solution was the right one. Only one Coalition MP called on Hawke to go further by granting an exemption to the family, despite a number of “moderate” MPs having spoken out on their behalf over the weekend. Many more spoke in favour of strong border policies, talking up the need to be firm on “maritime arrivals”, and reinforcing their own spin. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg commended Hawke on the decision, saying the government needed to “hold the line”, while Hawke told colleagues that “it was important that we strike the right balance”. Apparently “balance” means finally allowing the family out of the outrageously cruel facility where they have been kept for two years, only to increase the scaremongering surrounding resettling them – with some swipes at Labor for good measure. Albanese’s Question Time opener, unsurprisingly, was “Why won’t the government let this family go home to Bilo?” To which Acting PM Michael McCormack replied that he would “not be lectured” by Labor, which had put “more beds in detention centres than they ever did in hospitals” (expect to hear this one again).

Ultimately, today’s announcements have only delayed the government’s Biloela problem, not solved it, with a final decision still required from the immigration minister, by court order, on whether to “lift the bar” on now four-year-old Tharnicaa applying for a visa. The government will surely be hoping today’s news temporarily takes some of the heat off the situation, showing just enough “compassion” to assuage the concerns of sympathetic Coalition voters but plenty more strength to keep its tough-on-borders machismo intact. But who is that show of strength really for? In many ways it’s for the voters, with their preference for strong anti-boat policies. But it’s also for Labor, with that voter preference, as Hawke noted in his press conference, having been “tested at several elections”.

Of course, it’s also for other potential asylum seekers and those who might assist them, with the Coalition keen to take this opportunity to warn them off coming to Australia. If anything, however, loudly and repeatedly declaring that to let this poor family stay would encourage more boats is creating an incentive for those who “trade in misery” to pay more attention to this case, when the government could have just quietly let them stay. The government that didn’t want to make an example of the Biloela family by letting them stay is turning them into a bigger and bigger example by the day. Australians, it’s clear, aren’t going to forget about this family. Thanks to the Coalition, neither will the people it seeks to ward off.

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