Biloela refugee family outclasses Scott Morrison with three words

In their first TV interview since being released from four years of detention, the Biloela refugee family sent one powerful message to the former PM.

Her children spent four years confined to a lonely detention centre, but as far as Priya Murugappan is concerned, there are no hard feelings towards the likes of Scott Morrison.

Speaking to The Sunday Project host Lisa Wilkinson in the family’s first interview since they moved into their new home in the Queensland town of Biloela, Priya said she only wanted to look forward to her family’s happy future on Australian soil.

Asked if she had a message for former prime minster Scott Morrison and former immigration minster Peter Dutton, who fought for so long to keep them in detention on Christmas Island, she said: “I wish his life is a good life, but I don’t worry.”

Wilkinson responded: “You wish Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton a good life?”
“Yes, a good life,” Priya responded.

Nades and Priya Murugappan show The Sunday Project host, Lisa Wilkinson, their new home in Biloela, central Queensland. Picture: The Sunday Project

There was barely a dry eye at the airport and the family were VIPs at Biloela’s multicultural festival on Saturday where they were applauded following their return home.

Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two Australian-born daughters Kopika, seven, and Tharnicaa, five, will be granted bridging visas to allow them to live in Biloela while they work towards resolving their immigration status.

Thanks to a change in Labor government, they were able to come home to the rural Queensland community which has supported them throughout their ordeal.

Interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers confirmed he had used his ministerial powers to intervene in the family’s case to enable them to return to the central Queensland town where they lived until March 2018.

Dr Chalmers said he had spoken to the family and wished them well for their return.

“This decision will allow them to get ‘home to Bilo’, a big-hearted and welcoming Queensland town that has embraced this beautiful family,” he said.

Dr Chalmers said the Albanese Labor government remained committed to Operation Sovereign Borders and deterring people smugglers.

Tharni (second left) arrives for her 5th birthday party with her parents Priya and Nades and sister Kopika on June 12, in Biloela – her first ever birthday spent out of detention. Picture: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Growing up in a media spotlight

Tamil asylum seekers Priya and Nades came to Australia by boat from Sri Lanka during the civil war a decade ago and settled in Biloela after being granted bridging visas.

They lived and worked in the town until their visas expired and they were removed from their home.

They were eventually sent to Christmas Island in August 2019 with Kopika and Tharnicaa, becoming the sole residents of the detention centre there.

They have been in the media spotlight for years after Tharni got seriously ill with a blood infection and was flown to Perth’s children’s hospital for emergency medical care.

What does she remember? “My sister looked after me,” she said, shyly.

But thanks to the support of the small cattle and coal mining town of Biloela, affectionately known as ‘Bilo’, in rural Queensland, they are now home.

The town’s mayor Nev Ferrier agreed that not all locals were happy about the family’s return, saying people were concerned “all the boats will come back and we’ll have to deal with that stuff, people dying at sea”.

“No one wants to see that. Anyone with a heart or who knows the family knows what it’s not what it’s about,” he said.

Protests were held in Biloela and other parts of Australia in support of the Murugappan family who fled Sri Lanka by boat 10 years ago. Picture: The Sunday Project

Wilkinson asked the family, “Do you think your story will make other potential refugees in Sri Lanka want to get on boats to Australia?

“No” said Priya. “No.”

“This life is very hard,” added Nades.

Resident Angela Fredericks said: “If people are in danger, they are going to find a way to flee and they are going to find a way to protect their families.

“There is no queue. You know, at the end of the day, people are just going to do what they need to do to stay alive. There is no queue.

“There is not an orderly fashion to this. It’s about life or death.”

Kopi talks to Lisa Wilkinson about her time spent in detention which spanned four years, despite the fact she was born in Australia. Picture: The Sunday Project

What do the children remember of their ordeal?

In her soft and gentle voice, Kopi says that she remembered Christmas Island.

Keeping this family in detention for four years has cost Australian taxpayers $30 million.

Both these girls say in the future, they want to become doctors so they can “help people and give medicines”.

Wilkinson asked Priya and Nades what they remembered about detention.

“A lonely feeling. No other detainee … my children’s childhood lost, my beauty, my everything lost in four years,” Priya said.

Throughout it all, ‘Bilo’ and its army of supporters battled in the courts and held protests in the streets to help bring this family home.

The odds were always against them but this town stood up for them during a tireless campaign.

Wilkinson said, “As one local told me, you don’t ‘muck’ with Biloela people.”

Friend Bronwyn Dendle said she felt the town was the little engine that could. “We think we can, we think we can,” she said.

As it turned out, they actually could.

Biloela resident Angela Fredericks added, “We saw Priya and Nades as people, they weren’t refugees, they were one of us and so I think in any community in Australia, we embrace people. I like to think that’s Australia.”

– With NCA NewsWire