The self-immolation of a 23-year-old asylum seeker will pressure Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to resolve the visa status of more than 8000 people whose futures have been uncertain since they arrived by boat more than a decade ago.
Mano Yogalingam, a father-of-one and factory worker who was 11 when he left Sri Lanka with his family, spent his final weeks camped outside the Home Affairs offices in Melbourne while protesting against Australian immigration policy. He died in hospital on Wednesday after lighting himself on fire at a skate park in Melbourne’s south-east on Tuesday night.