Interim Home Affairs Minister allows Tamil family to return home to Biloela

The Murugappan family will be allowed to return home to Biloela, 1544 days after they were removed from the Central Queensland town.

The Murugappan family will be allowed to return home to Biloela, 1544 days after they were removed from the Central Queensland town.

Interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers exercised his power under the Migration Act on Friday afternoon to intervene in the family’s case to allow them to come home.

The decision will mean Priya and Nades and their two daughters Kopika and Tharnicaa will be allowed to reside lawfully in Biloela on bridging visas while they work towards the resolution of their immigration status, in accordance with Australian law.

“I have spoken to the family and wished them well for their return,” Dr Chalmers said.

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

Priya and Nades thanked the hundreds of thousands of Australians who had supported them over the past four years, with Priya saying in a statement: “Finally, everything is here. I cannot believe it.

“My prayer is that this government will make a change to the lives of every single refugee who comes here.

Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa will be allowed to return home to Biloela after spending more than 1500 days in limbo.

“All refugees are survivors. They need hope.

“I had the support of Nades and we had the support of the people of Bilo. But many others don’t have that support so I want to help.”

Family friend Angela Fredericks, who led the Back to Bilo campaign, said the family expected to be leaving Perth in early June to return to Biloela and restart rebuilding their lives.

She is hopeful that Tharnicaa will be home to celebrate her fifth birthday, her first birthday out of detention, on June 12.

“We have just received a phone call from interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers who has shared with us the very welcome news that our friends the Nadesalingam family will be finally coming home to Biloela,” she said.

“We have then spoken with Priya and Nades and they share our overwhelming sense of joy and relief at this news, and we all welcome the decision to issue the entire family with bridging visas. But this family will never be safe until they have permanency in Australia.”

Interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers on the phone to the Murugappan family after using his ministerial powers to allow them to return home to Biloela.

Ms Fredericks said the Murugappan family’s journey home would “mark the end of a long, painful chapter in their lives and the beginning of a lifetime of healing and recovery”.

“Priya and Nades would once again like to thank the hundreds of thousands of Australians who have supported them over the last four years.

“While our friends have finally been guaranteed safety here in Biloela, the same cannot be said for many other Tamils in Australia.

“We sincerely hope that the newly elected Labor government will recognise what the international community already knows: that Sri Lanka is not safe for Tamil people.

“We hope that the new government can acknowledge the distress that prolonged detention and uncertainty has caused for many Tamil people in Australia, and grant them the safety and security that only permanent protection can bring.

“We cannot wait to welcome our friends back home to Bilo with some warm hugs, happy tears, and a very big welcome home party.”

Nades, Priya and their two daughters Kopika and Tharnicaa could be returning to Biloela soon.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted on Facebook: “When I visited Biloela in 2019, I saw just how much the community loves Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa. Today my Government has enabled them to return home.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also commented, saying it was “wonderful news that they will be allowed to return to their home, finally”.

“Thanks to the Biloela community for campaigning long and hard for this family,” she posted.

“And to Jim Chalmers MP and Anthony Albanese for your compassion, understanding and action.”

Banana Shire Council Mayor Nev Ferrier said the decision was “just terrific”.

“It’s great for them. Four years they’ve been locked up,” he said.

“They will be over the moon.”

Mr Ferrier applauded the tireless efforts of advocates such as Ms Fredericks, who campaigned so passionately to to have the family resettled in Biloela.

“It was a pretty harrowing experience but they just kept at it. They really are incredible,” he said.

“All the people who have been wishing for them to come home will be really relieved.”

Mr Chalmers revealed on Wednesday “substantial progress” had been made to bring the family home to Biloela.

Biloela locals Angela Fredericks and Bronwyn Dendle, whose children played with Kopika and Tharnicaa in Biloela out the front of Parliament House in Canberra with a petition of 250k signatures. Picture Kym Smith

Ms Fredericks had said on Friday morning before the decision that it would be wonderful for the family to finally have certainty.

“I’m feeling incredibly relieved that today we are actually going to know with absolute certainty that these four beautiful people are going to be safe, they’re going to get to live their lives protected and they’re going to be able to come back to Biloela,” she said.

“We spoke last night to go through everything that was happening.

“They were just incredibly overwhelmed and just so relieved that today they’re going to have an answer for sure.

“They’ve just been hanging on for this moment.

“We have the Flourish Festival in Biloela on June 11, which is our multicultural festival, so we would love to have them back for that and Sunday, the 12th, is Tharnicaa’s 5th birthday so that would be her first birthday not in detention.”

HOME TO BILO: Angela Fredericks and the Biloela community have been advocating to have the family returned home to Biloela.

Priya and Nades arrived in Australia by boat after fleeing Sri Lanka for the persecution of Tamil people.

They married in 2014 and their two daughters were both born in Australia.

The family was removed from their home in Biloela in 2018 before being flown to detention in Melbourne, where they were to be deported.

It is understood Priya’s bridging visa had expired the day before they were removed and was in the process of applying for an extension.

On March 13, 2018, they were taken to Perth and placed on a plane for deportation, but legal intervention got them taken off the plane before takeoff and they were flown back to Melbourne.

This began a long battle through the courts for a number of hearings.

The family were taken from their Biloela home in March 2018 and have been held in detention since with many court proceedings in the process.

In 2019, the family were put on a plane to be deported back to Sri Lanka, but a legal intervention forced the plane to land in Darwin and the family were allowed to stay in Australia.

Since then the family was staying on Christmas Island.

Ms Fredericks said the lead-up to the federal election was “incredibly tense”, given the Murugappan family’s fate rested on the result.

Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison had ruled out intervening in regards to the family, while the Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese had vowed to allow them to resettle in Biloela if it was voted in.

Ms Fredericks said that Labor’s victory felt like a “weight lifted and we could breathe again”.

“To see this government making decisions so quickly just absolutely warms our hearts,” she said.

“We never in our wildest dreams thought it would be happening so quickly.

“We did a video call (to the family) and I got to say the words; ‘You’re coming home’ and it was immediate tears, and then so happy.

“It was a very emotional moment.”

Originally published as Interim Home Affairs Minister allows Tamil family to return home to Biloela