Injunction halts ‘beautiful’ Tamil family’s deportation in Darwin

THE deportation of a Tamil asylum seeker family being held under tight security in Darwin has been put on hold until next Wednesday

THE deportation of a Tamil asylum seeker family being held under tight security in Darwin has been put on hold until next Wednesday.

A Federal Court judge granted an extended injunction this morning, preventing the deportation of Nadesalingnam, wife Priya, and their Australian-born daughters Dharuniga and Kopiga from Darwin to Sri Lanka until after another court hearing next Wednesday at 4pm.

The family was put on a plane to be deported from Melbourne to Sri Lanka on Thursday night but in a dramatic last-minute twist the Tamil family’s lawyer won an eleventh-hour reprieve from a Melbourne judge.

The plane was forced to land in Darwin at about 2am Friday and Border Force took the family to the Mercure Darwin Airport Resort, where they were kept under tight security with more than five security guards posted outside their room.

Darwin resident Iyngaranathan Selvaratnam, who was among some of the family’s supporters outside the hotel, said he didn’t think it was nessesary for the family to be under such a high level of security.

“This is a family with two little kids, they’re not criminals,” he said.

“They’re not a threat to anyone.”

He said they are encouraging people in Darwin to come down and rally in support of the family.

On Facebook page Bring Priya, Nades and their girls home to Biloela, family friend Angela Fredericks said she was unsure what will happen to them now.

“They are exhausted, but so relieved to still be in Australia,” she said.

The plane is operated by Skytraders, a private charter flight company. Picture: Supplied/Refugee Action Collective

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the Tamil family must accept they are not refugees and will not be settled in Australia.

“They came here by boat from the West Indies and we’ve been very clear that they couldn’t stay,” he told Nine’s Today program on Friday.

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“They were told before they had children they couldn’t settle here. No court has said there might be an opportunity for you to stay.”

The family had been held in a Melbourne detention centre since March 2018, after being taken from their home in Biloela, in Queensland, during a pre-dawn raid.

They lived in Biloela for four years on a temporary bridging visa before it ran out in March 2018. The High Court denied their final bid to stay in May 2018.

A Change.org petition titled ‘Bring Priya and her beautiful family back home to Biloela’ had this morning already received over 203,00 signatures of support.