The young Tamil family fighting to avoid their deportation to Sri Lanka has been granted another reprieve by the Federal Court, which ruled they will remain under Australia’s care until September 18.
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ABC reports Priya, Nades, and their two young daughters Kopika and Tharunicaa, will remain in the Christmas Island detention centre until what Justice Mordecai Bromberg described as a “full and final” hearing on the case.
Bromberg ruled the Federal Court must continue to assess evidence regarding two-year-old Tharunicaa’s case for asylum, after Immigration Minister David Coleman‘s unexpected announcement his department had once again investigated and denied her claim.
Priya and Nades, who arrived in Australia by boat, were denied official asylum seeker status and placed in a Melbourne detention centre when their bridging visa expired in 2018. Numerous court appeals against that decision have failed.
Despite once calling the rural Queensland town of Biloela their home, and having their two children in Australia, the family was marked for deportation last week.
Only a last-minute injunction stopped their return to Sri Lanka, where Priya and Nades state they will face persecution due to their links to combatants in Sri Lanka’s civil war.
The case has galvanised public support for the family, but Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has repeatedly said the family has no hope of resettling back in Biloela.
We’ll see on September 18.
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