Australia asylum baby 'will be sent back to Nauru'

A baby at the centre of an asylum row in Australia has been released from hospital into community detention. But the government says baby Asha will be sent to an offshore camp in Nauru once she is well.

The island nation of Nauru holds migrants while Australia processes their asylum claims

Doctors refused to discharge the one-year-old, who was being treated for serious burns, unless she was provided a "suitable home environment". The standoff sparked protests outside Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital in support of the doctors.

The detention and likely deportation of Asha sparked many protests

 Asha will now stay with her family, including her mother, in community detention. An immigration officer will monitor the family and their movements will be restricted.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said she would be sent to the offshore processing centre on Nauru once her medical treatment was complete and the legal issues surrounding the circumstances of her injury resolved.


"We are not going to allow people smugglers to get out a message that if you seek assistance in an Australian hospital, that somehow that is your formula to becoming an Australian citizen," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I couldn't be any clearer - once the medical assistance has been provided and the legal issues resolved, people will go back to Nauru."