Biloela asylum seeker mother flown to Perth from Christmas Island

The mother in a young Tamil family was being flown overnight to Perth from Christmas Island.

Kokilapathmapriy Nadarasa, known as Priya, with her husband Nadesalingam Murugappan, known as Nades, and their daughters Kopika and Tharunicaa leave the recreation centre on Christmas Island early this year. Picture: Colin Murty

The mother in a young Tamil family of four – the last asylum seekers detained on the Australian territory of Christmas Island – was due to arrive at a Perth hospital in the early hours of Sunday after an emergency medical-evacuation flight.

Nadesalingam Murugappan and his wife Kokilapathmapriy Nadarasa were among more than 50,000 people who arrived in Australia by boat – mostly at Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands – during the Rudd-Gillard years.

The couple met and married in Australia after arriving separately on asylum boats in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Both have repeatedly been found not to be refugees but the Queensland community of Biloela where they made a home supports them. They had two daughters in Australia while awaiting the outcome of rulings and appeals on their refugee status.

On Saturday afternoon an emergency medical charter plane flew 2700km from Perth to Christmas Island to collect the mother, known to friends as Priya, and take her to Perth’s largest public hospital named after public health expert Fiona Stanley.

The flight on a small plane fitted with specialist equipment and medical staff usually takes about seven hours. The Australian has been told Priya had been unwell for some time with stomach ailments and had been vomiting at the detention camp where the family is held, next to the island swimming pool and recreation centre. They are not detained at the main Christmas Island detention centre on the other side of the island.

Priya, 44, had been in and out of the Christmas Island hospital in recent weeks. She was able to walk to the plane flanked by two guards on Saturday.

It was past policy of both the Labor and Coalition governments to allow spouses and children to accompany sick asylum seekers on medical evacuation flights to capital city hospitals, or on commercial or charter flights soon after.

However in recent years, asylum seekers on Nauru and Christmas Island who are evacuated to the Australian mainland for medical treatment are generally flown alone and the family stays behind. The Australian has confirmed that Priya’s husband, known to friends as Nades, remains in the detention camp on Christmas Island with their two daughters Tharnicaa, 3 and Kopika, 5.

The family has been detained on Christmas Island, which once held thousands of asylum seekers, for more than two years. They previously lived in the community in Biloela as their legal dispute with the federal government over whether or not they could stay escalated. The matter is currently before the Federal Court.