Tamil family’s deportation from Australia delayed again
A Tamil family has been given another reprieve from deportation while lawyers fight for their right to remain in Australia where they had settled in the Queensland town of Biloela.
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A Tamil family has been given another reprieve from deportation while lawyers fight in the Federal Court for their right to stay.
The court gave the family, which had settled in the Queensland town of Biloela, a two-day delay on Wednesday after Immigration Minister David Coleman decided not to use his discretionary powers in favour of the family. That meant they were due for deportation by 4pm on Friday, giving lawyers enough time to consider new materials.
However, on Friday morning, Justice Mordy Bromberg ruled the government could not forcibly remove the family, who are detained on Christmas Island, until 4pm on September 18.
It came after barrister Angel Aleksov flagged the family had lodged a new application, which would be decided at an interlocutory hearing the same day.
The family’s legal case hinges on two-year-old Tharunicaa, who was born in Australia and her right to apply for a protection visa.
Despite being Australian-born, Tharunicaa has been deemed an “unauthorised maritime arrival” under the Migration Act, which stipulates children of asylum seekers who arrive in the country by boat cannot apply for a visa. Justice Bromberg said both parties had consented to the delay until a “full and final hearing” was held.
Her parents Priya and Nadesalingam and four-year-old sister Kopika have been deemed not refugees, not qualifying for Australia’s protection, by a succession of courts, including the High Court.
It comes as the family’s two-year-old girl is not eating properly and is scared, her mother says.
Speaking from the Christmas Island detention centre, where they are the only residents, Priya said the family is “distressed and worried”.
“Especially Kopika is saying she doesn’t like this place, she wants to go back to Biloela. Tharunicaa is not eating proper food. I think they are scared,” Priya told the Guardian Australia.
She urged the government to let them stay in Biloela in central Queensland where the family had become a part of the community.
“It’s (Sri Lanka) not going to be a safe place for our family there,” she said.
“I am asking to both of the ministers kindly and safely please let us go back to Biloela, and please give safety and peaceful life to my daughters.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison resisted widespread calls for the government to allow the family of four to stay in Australia.
AFP officers have been sent to Christmas Island, about 2000km from Perth in the Indian Ocean, where the family is awaiting its fate.
“We’re still in uncertain territory but the fight is not over here,” the family’s lawyer Carina Ford told reporters outside the court.
Biloela resident Angela Fredericks arrived at Christmas Island on Tuesday afternoon to make sure her friends weren’t alone if they got deported.
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“I’ve just got confirmation there’s no way I’m going to be able to see them,” Ms Fredericks said.
“Even though I can’t physically be there, it’s so they know that someone on the island is there for them.
“If the worst happens, I will be shouting at the airport to them that we are not letting them go.”
PM BACKS GOVERNMENT’S STANCE
A rare alliance of conservative commentators, opposition parties and coalition backbenchers is urging the prime minister to let the family stay.
But Mr Morrison has dismissed their pleas as “Twitter public sentiment”.
“It’s about doing the right thing by the national interest. It’s not about chasing public sentiment,” he told said.
“I understand absolutely the motivation and the compassion that Australians have expressed in relation to this case.
“But I also know from bitter experience that if you make the wrong calls on these issues, then you invite tragedy and you invite chaos.”
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese travelled to Biloela to join supporters of the Tamil family.
Biloela is where the family lived until they were removed in a pre-dawn raid last year.
The Labor leader is calling on the immigration minister to exercise discretion and let them stay.
“There is a case of a four-year-old and a two-year-old who belong here in Australia,” he told the Seven Network.
“Their parents are making a contribution and they are in regional Queensland, supported by their local community.”
"This family are making a contribution"
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) September 3, 2019
Labor Leader @AlboMP acknowledges the Tamil family facing deportation aren't refugees, but should be allowed to stay. pic.twitter.com/OWjuyd37IE
Senior minister Mathias Cormann said the Tamil family was in the same position as 1500 people sent back to Sri Lanka.
Senator Cormann said their pleas for protection had been comprehensively assessed by the government and the courts.
“At every step on the way, those assessments have confirmed they do not qualify to come to Australia as asylum seekers,” he told the ABC.
“This is about making sure we don’t send a signal to people smugglers who are out there waiting to see a weakening in the resolve of the Australian government in protecting our borders.
“We have to apply the law of the land and we have to make sure that we focus on the broader national interest.”
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has launched a counter-attack against Labor, accusing the opposition of hypocrisy.
Immigration numbers given to The Australian show previous Labor governments removed 2631 Sri Lankans in the three years to 2013.
“People-smugglers would be partying long into the night if Labor wins the next election because (home affairs spokeswoman) Kristina Keneally and Albanese have now adopted an effective open-border policy,” Mr Dutton said.
Originally published as Tamil family’s deportation from Australia delayed again