Yesterday, Huyen and her daughter Isabella walked from the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation and were taken home by husband and father Paul. Though the sudden grant of a temporary bridging visa is not a solution to this family's precarity, the 12-month reprieve from looming deportation and separation of mum and bubs is still a breathtaking relief. Finally, after being locked up in Australian detention for her whole two and a half years of life, baby Isabella is free to be together with her mum, dad and grandma, to have friends, be baptised, get proper immunisations and health care, and play in the safety of her family home. Huyen's journey as a boat person is a stark and sad contrast to my own refugee parents' arrival in Australia in the 1980s. Isabella's short life is a study in unnecessary state cruelty, whilst only a generation ago I grew up with community, public health and education to help us settle and thrive. Neither of our families were ever a threat to Australia's borders and yet, we are seeing a generation of people who have been damaged, and some have died, in detention for literally no reason but successive Federal Governments' cynical fear-mongering for votes. So what did it take? It's still unclear to us exactly what brought on this sudden decision from the Government but take heart knowing that we fought for Huyen, Isabella and their family every step of the way. There were the protest actions from care staff that got a heavily pregnant Huyen off a deportation plane. The loneliness of those early times of motherhood that Huyen endured in detention, scrapping for fresh food and any antenatal care. The challenge brought to the UN Human Rights Committee to prevent the Australian Government from separating mother and daughter. Years of worrying psychiatric and medical assessments of Huyen and Isabella's welfare and deprivation. Isabella being rushed to hospital from detention with a dangerous fever and severe flu, after weeks of MITA staff ignoring her mother Huyen's complaints and desperate requests. And of course the countless rallies and forums where we stood together in hope for Huyen and Isabella and the hundreds of others at the mercy of the Australian Government's depraved policies. Thank you! Thank you for your solidarity in this significant fight against the Australian Government's inhumane and damaging refugee policy. I know sometimes it feels impossible to keep faith and hope that justice will be had, when our political leadership plumbs new depths of cruelty and callousness. But I have seen with my own eyes the difference your support has made in Huyen and her family's hopes for better times. Thank you for being on this long road with us. Stay safe. Stay vigilant. Huong Truong PS Isabella's playmates in detention, Kopika and Tharunicaa, are still in detention, on Christmas Island. Please consider signing their petition ( Change.org/HomeToBilo )