A FAMILY of refugees from the Oceanic Viking faces indefinite detention after the Government flew their mother to Christmas Island knowing she was a security risk.
The Tamil woman was among four adult refugees involved in the customs boat stand-off to fail security checks by ASIO. Her two young children were also on the journey.
Yesterday, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said all were ineligible to live in Australia. As genuine refugees, however, they cannot be deported to possible harm in Sri Lanka.
''When these people were found to be of security concern we determined to take them to Christmas Island, detain them there and work with the UNHCR on long-term resolution of their cases,'' he said.
The children's father is held on the island with them. He was also rejected for residency on security grounds after sailing separately to Australia six months ago.
The Government will not say if the family is suspected of links to the Tamil Tigers.
While Tamil supporters and refugee lawyers called on ASIO to release the grounds for their rejection yesterday, the Opposition accused the Government of jeopardising Australia's security.
''They knowingly brought people deemed to be a national security threat from a third country into Australia," Opposition spokesman for justice and customs Michael Keenan said.
"They have betrayed the trust of the Australian people and threatened the integrity of our border protection system."
The adverse security findings further complicate the Government's assurance of fast resettlement for the Oceanic Vikings refugees.
While they preclude resettlement in Australia, the Government cannot deport the group to Sri Lanka because all were found by the UN to be in genuine fear of persecution.
Senator Evans said their situation was undesirable but was not a first.
Under the previous government, two Iraqi men were held on Nauru for years after failing security checks.
''This Government has been very committed to trying to end that kind of long-term indefinite detention, but there's no doubt these are difficult cases,'' he said.
Immigration lawyer John Gibson said ASIO should release the basis on which they concluded the people were a security threat.
''This is one of the opaque parts of the process that is currently beyond scrutiny,'' he said.
''These people have been in Indonesia since 2005 and some, I gather, have been there longer. In other words they haven't been in contact with the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] and they are not recent combatants. I have real concerns as to the basis on which they've been designated by ASIO in this way.''
The Australian Tamil Congress said ASIO had to show it had not taken the word of the Sri Lankan Government in forming the assessment.
The Sri Lankan Government quashed the Tamil secession movement last year after decades of civil war.
ASIO declined to comment on its processes last night.
■ Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has described relations with India as excellent after his counterpart in New Delhi warned that a failure to deal with attacks on Indians in Australia would seriously damage ties between the countries.
Mr Smith returned to work from holidays on Monday and immediately phoned the Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, to express condolences over the death of Indian student Nitin Garg and provide assurances about the Victorian police investigation.
''We both agreed this was an issue we did not want to disturb or get in the way of what the External Affairs Minister described as an excellent relationship,'' Mr Smith said yesterday.
 With JONATHAN PEARLMAN