Tamils’ stay in national interest: Labor

Labor has declared it is in the national interest to allow the Sri Lankan Tamil family facing deportation to stay in Australia.

Labor’s Tony Burke has declared it is in the national interest to allow the Sri Lankan Tamil family facing deportation to stay in Australia. Picture Kym Smith

Labor’s chief strategist Tony Burke has declared it is in the national interest to allow the Sri Lankan Tamil family facing deportation to stay in Australia, after Scott Morrison ruled out any “special favours”.

Mr Burke, who was immigration minister under Kevin Rudd when the then prime minister said no asylum-seeker who arrived by boat would be resettled in Australia, said if it was good for the Queensland town of Biloela for the family to remain then it was also good for the country.

“I previously held the portfolio and I’ve previously been in the situation where I’d exercise ministerial discretion. You don’t only exercise ministerial discretion for issues of compassion. You also exercise ministerial discretion for issues of national interest,” Mr Burke told Sky News.

“You’ve got a national interest issue here. You’ve got a town that says this family is good for our town in Biloela. You’ve got a business that says ‘I don’t want to lose my employee’. You don’t even need to get to compassionate arguments before you have a national interest case. That’s what there is right now.”

Questioned over what about this particular case was in the national interest, Mr Burke, who is manager of opposition business, responded: “For Biloela on every assessment we’ve seen — the employer, the community, the whole campaign that has been run out of there — I’m yet to see anyone say it’s bad for Biloela.

Priya, her husband Nadesalingam and their Australian-born children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2. Picture: AAP

“If it’s good for Biloela for this family to stay, how on earth is it anything other than in the national interest? The standard is if it’s good for Australia.”

Nadesalingam “Nades” Murugappan and Kokilapath­mapriya “Priya” Nadarasa came to Australia from Sri Lanka on boats in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

They and their eldest daughter Kopika have been found not to be refugees and the High Court has dismissed their bids for appeal.

The family lived in Biloela for 3½ years on bridging visas until they ran out in March last year and are now on Christmas Island awaiting the outcome of a legal case for their youngest daughter, Tharunicaa, who is having her claim for protection independently tested.

Both daughters were born in Australia.

The Prime Minister told the NSW Liberal Party state council yesterday that if the family was sent back to Sri Lanka they would be treated no differently to other people wanting to migrate to Australia.

“I know the matter regarding the Tamil family is a very sensitive one,” Mr Morrison said.

“The most compassionate thing you can always do is just make sure your borders are strong … The family, when they return should that be the decision of the courts, to Sri Lanka, then they are very welcome to make an application to come to Australia, the same way that everyone else does.

“There’ll be no special favours or special treatment. Nor should there be. There are thousands, there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to come and make their life here in Australia.”

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton last week said the era of bipartisanship with Labor on border protection championed by former leader Bill Shorten was “dead” as the ALP comes under pressure over its position on the Sri Lankan Tamil family’s case.

Labor has been accused of leaving open the door to hundreds of other failed asylum-seekers who arrived by boat and have been found by the courts not to be refugees.