Reprieve for Tamils as deportation bid delayed
An injunction to stop a Tamil family from being deported has been extended to Thursday.
The Tamil family who found a home in Biloela, in central Queensland, has again been granted an injunction preventing their deportation.
Judge Mordy Bromberg told the Federal Court he needed time to consider the complexities of the case before he handed down his decision, and made orders preventing the Immigration Minister from deporting the family of four until 4pm on Thursday.
“We will want some time to consider (the) decision and I expect the decision to be provided tomorrow,” Justice Bromberg said in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“I make an order that the respondents be restrained from removing the applicant from Australia until 4pm, September 19.”
The court heard the family’s fate hinged on a 2017 decision made by then immigration minister Peter Dutton that opened a one-month window in which one of the two girls could have applied for a visa, which lawyers argue means two-year-old Tharunicaa’s case was “still in train”, with the government having no power to deport her.
Lawyer Angel Aleksov, for the family, said the mother, Priya, had submitted a visa application on July 26, 2017, meaning Mr Dutton would have made a decision to “lift the bar” for her application.
Mr Aleksov said this meant Tharunicaa would have been able to apply for a visa until August 27, 2017. “It is a very serious question about whether my client has been lawfully detained,” he said.
Stephen Lloyd, for current Immigration Minister David Coleman, did not dispute that an application was made in 2017 but denied it meant Tharunicaa still held the right to apply for a visa. “It removed (what) otherwise would have been a bar to her to apply,” he said. “She didn't take advantage.”
Mr Lloyd said there was no evidence the family had ever been informed of the opportunity but the minister was not duty bound to inform them.
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