Dutton lashes out at ‘disgusting’ criticism over Tamil asylum family secretly flown to Christmas Island
Peter Dutton has been copping it from all angles following the controversial deportation of a family. Now he’s hit back.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has hit out on Twitter after facing severe criticism over his dealings with a Tamil asylum seeker family.
The family was secretly moved from Darwin to Christmas Island in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Nadesalingam, Priya and their two children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, were due to be expelled from the country on Thursday night, but were granted a last-minute injunction by a Federal Court judge as their plane flew out of Melbourne.
They landed in Darwin where they were given accommodation at a location surrounded by guards but the situation changed overnight.
“This is senseless cruelty, this is cruelty for the sake of being cruel,” federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters at a rally in Melbourne on Sunday.
“This is a minister in Peter Dutton taking pleasure in the suffering of others, that’s what going on here. It’s barbaric, it’s cruel and it needs to end.”
However, Dutton has hit back on Twitter this evening.
Richard Di Natale supported decisions that resulted in 1200 people drowning at sea. His comments today are self-indulgent and promote nothing more than his own failed agenda. They are disgusting and should be condemned.
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) September 1, 2019
Tanya Plibersek also launched a scathing attack on Dutton this morning.
“This is a concern as it does not give us access to our client in a manner that we would have in a major city nor are we able to facilitate the witnessing of documents. It’s also isolating for the family and traumatic for them,” she said.
On Saturday, Plibersek called for Mr Dutton to “end this cruelty now” and appeared on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning to further the pressure.
“It’s a bit rich for Peter Dutton to talk about precedent when he’s prepared to use his ministerial powers to allow au pairs to enter the country,” Plibersek said.
“It's a bit rich for Peter Dutton to talk about precedent when he's prepared to use his ministerial powers to allow au pairs to enter the country.â€@tanya_plibersek on the Biloela Tamil asylum seeker family deportation. #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/UkrRfVifzh
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) August 31, 2019
In August 2018 it was revealed the Home Affairs Minister personally intervened to help the nannies of wealthy and powerful friends dodge immigration rules and enter the country without hassle.
It was the third case of him using ministerial discretion powers to intervene in visa issues involving foreign nannies.
Australians are refusing to remain silent with a day of rallies planned across the country in the hope of saving the family from deportation.
Protests will kick off in all capital cities, and the Queensland town of Biloela on Sunday to demand the federal government let them stay.
“We are calling on the federal government not to deport the Biloela family. They are in real danger if deported back to Sri Lanka,” Refugee Action Collective’s Chris Breen said.
“They have real claims for protection (in Australia).”
Carina Ford believes they’re the only detainees on the island and claims “it may have been specifically reopened for them”.
“I don’t really understand the motive of the Christmas Island move given that there are many other functioning detention centres in Australia, on the mainland,” she said.
Priya told friends and supporters that aside from staff and guards they are all alone.
“My children have been separated from their world,” she said.
Seems to me the Australian Government is going to an enormous amount of trouble and expense to persecute one young Tamil couple and their Australian-born children. What kind of psychopath comes up with this stuff? Take them back to Biloela.
— Paul Barratt (@phbarratt) August 31, 2019
The move has created logistical issues for lawyers who due to face the Federal Circuit Court on Monday and Federal Court on Wednesday.
Federal Court Judge Mordy Bomberg on Friday extended an interim injunction until Wednesday as two-year-old Tharunicaa had not been assessed for a protection visa.
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten has called on the government to “just let them stay”.
But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has refused.
“I would like the family to accept that they are not refugees, they’re not owed protection by our country,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.
The case has been “comprehensively assessed” and reviewed since 2012, a Home Affairs spokeswoman added.
BREAKING: Tamil family friend Angela Fredericks says the family has been taken to Christmas Island overnight. #hometobilo pic.twitter.com/vwccDCo94X
— Rachel Mealey (@rachelmealey) August 30, 2019
Meanwhile, Alan Jones on Saturday afternoon tweeted he was “sickened” by the news and called for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene in the case.
The Prime Minister must personally intervene in this Biloela family case. It is sickening the Government is claiming they aren't legitimate refugees. Their two children were born in Australia!!! #Biloela #hometobilo
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
This Government claims that no children are in detention- well these children have been in detention.
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
The little two year old had her second birthday in detention. She wasn't allowed candles on her cake. This is shameful. #Biloela #hometobilo
The Prime Minister needs to understand that we should be encouraging refugees like Priya and Nades to move to regional centres where you can't easily find workers.
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
Let them stay. #Biloela
Peter Dutton says the Tamil family are boat people.
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
Yes they are.
But how many of you would get on a boat in these same circumstances?
The mother fled Sri Lanka after her fiancee was horrifically burned alive in their village. #Biloela #hometobilo
Outside the Federal Court of Australia on Saturday afternoon, Ms Ford said that the family were “obviously distressed”.
In a statement, campaigners trying to keep the family in Australia say Priya and Nadesalingam’s phones had been confiscated to prevent them from alerting supporters.
“Amid much speculation as to what the Australian Government’s plans were for this family, the Department of Immigration lawyers assured the family’s lawyer there were no plans to split the family, and they were being held in Darwin,” the statement read.
“This is the second flight in as many days under the cover of darkness, taking this family even further away from the support of the community that loves them.”
Priya was able to make contact with family and friends when they arrived at Christmas Island.
“My children have been separated from their world,” she said.
The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted ad refused to make comment.
The Christmas Island immigration detention centre, more than 2000km from Australia, was closed in 2018 and later made available on a “contingency” basis.
The move to Christmas Island has been slammed by several political commentators, including columnist Van Badham, who described the Government as a “pack of rat b**tards”.
“Is this the “promise of Australia” we heard so much about? A promise to terrorise KIDS?” she wrote.
Journalist Natalie Forrest called it an “absolute national disgrace”.
The injunction order granted on Thursday night means the family’s two-year-old daughter Tharunicaa cannot be expelled from the country until a court hearing on Wednesday, as her claims for asylum have not yet been assessed.
But the family’s lawyer, Carina Ford, said the injunction did not protect Nadesalingam, Priya or Kopika from being removed.
“It will be left to the Department (of Immigration) and the (Home Affairs) Minister to determine what to do with the remaining members of the family,” she said.
CASE PUTS HUMAN FACE ON DEPORTATION
The case has highlighted the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia, which rarely plays out in the public eye.
Australia has previously been condemned by the UN Refugee Agency for its treatment of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru, while Human Rights Watch said in its 2019 World Report that “serious issues” remained.
“Many refugees and asylum seekers suffer from poor mental health or mental illness due to, or exacerbated by, years of detention and uncertainty about their futures,” the report said.
“As a member of the Tamil community, we’re all heartbroken by how this family has been treated by our government,” Aran Mylvaganam, a spokesman from the Tamil Refugee Council, said.
Videos taken by the family showed how they were loaded into two separate vans on Thursday night, as they were transported to Melbourne Airport. They were then separated again as officials prepared them for their flight.
We hear about deportation and the threat asylum seekers face all the time. Usually it’s in reference to nameless, faceless people. But these are those people. And this is exactly what deportation looks like. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/VsWCasH8BJ
— The Project (@theprojecttv) August 30, 2019
“My baby crying,” Priya can be heard saying in one video, as she’s held back by staff.
Another video showed the children crying as Priya was dragged on-board the plane.
“This is hard to watch, but we must not look away. And we all must ask ourselves if this is really what we want for this family and our country,” the campaign to keep the family in Australia said on Facebook.
— with AAP’s Christine McGinn.