UPDATE: A Federal Court judge has ruled the youngest child of an asylum seeker family marked for deportation will be permitted to stay in Australia until at least Wednesday, extending an emergency injunction granted last night.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports Justice Mordecai Bromberg today stayed the deportation of 2-year-old girl Tharunicaa to Sri Lanka, but questions remain if the injunction will extend to her parents Priya and Nadesalingam, and her older sister Kopika.
In the interim, lawyers representing the family will permitted to prepare a case arguing for Tharunicaa’s permanent settlement in Australia.
A young asylum seeker family had their deportation from Melbourne to Sri Lanka blocked at the last moment overnight, thanks to a late-night court injunction which ordered their removal from a plane in Darwin.
SBS reports Priya and Nadesalingam, along with their young Australian-born children Kopika and Tharunicaa, were escorted without warning to Tullamarine Airport for deportation to Sri Lanka late Thursday evening.
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Priya and Nadesalingam, who arrived by boat in 2012 and 2013, respectively, had sought refuge in Australia after Sri Lanka’s civil war. The pair claimed family ties to Tamil community would put their safety at risk if they remained in Sri Lanka.
Despite calling the rural Queensland town of Biloela their home for years and having two children in Australia, their temporary bridging visa expired last year and they were denied settlement in Australia. They were relocated to the Melbourne detention centre last March, and subsequent court challenges calling for their permanent settlement have failed.
Advocates and family friends have been urging the Australian government to let the family return to Biloela ever since, but SBS was yesterday supplied Australian Border Force documents marking “Notices of Intention to Remove from Australia.”
News spread as the family was escorted to the airport, which saw an impromptu gathering of peaceful protesters calling on the deportation to be cancelled.
SBS reports Priya’s wrist was injured as she was “forcibly” escorted onto the plane, adding that AAP photos show a bandage on her wrist.
Citing family friend Angela Fredericks, Change.org campaigns director Nic Holas said guards also separated the children from their parents on the plane.
I’ve just spoken with Angela from #HometoBilo. 20 guards surrounded Priya while she was getting medical treatment. They separated the parents from the two little girls. According to Angela, there is a Skytrader plane currently in Melbourne.
— Nic Dorward (@nicheholas) August 29, 2019
The Courier-Mail reports that while the family was in the air, their lawyers secured a temporary injunction on the removal order at the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne.
Judge Heather Riley’s order reportedly bars the family’s deportation until midday today, and the matter will be heard as a matter of urgency at 10am.
Despite the family’s deeply disheartening treatment at the hands of Australia’s border security apparatus, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton this morning voiced his support for their deportation.
“Before the family had children, they were told under no circumstance would they settle in Australia,” he told The Today Show, reiterating the government’s stance that anyone who arrives in Australia unlawfully by boat will be refused permanent settlement.
“I would like the family to accept that they are not refugees. That they’re not owed protection by our country. They came here by boat and we’ve been very clear that they wouldn’t stay.” @PeterDutton_MP on a Queensland family set to be deported back to Sri Lanka. #9Today pic.twitter.com/up4joPlyXO
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 29, 2019
Politicians including Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Kenneally and NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong have called for their release to the community.
https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/1167162847681318912
Don’t care what their “status” is. There is NO excuse for cruel, inhumane treatment & if this barbaric approach is ‘legal’ under Aust law (which is in breach of int law) then the law must change and until then the the law must be broken #letthemstay #hometobilo #nooneisillegal
— Jenny Leong MP 梁珍妮 (@jennyleong) August 29, 2019
Rallies calling for the family’s return to Biloela are scheduled to take place in Melbourne and Sydney this morning.
More to come.
