“Let Them Stay”: Thousands March In Support Of Tamil Asylum Seeker Family Facing Deportation
Even Alan Jones wants the government to intervene.
Thousands of Australians participated in rallies around the country on Sunday in support of a Tamil asylum seeker family facing deportation.
Peaceful protests were held in capital cities across of Australia, as well as in the small town of Biloela, Queensland, where Priya, Nades and their two young, Australian-born daughters Kopika and Tharunicaa had lived for years before their home was raided by Border Force officials in March last year, one day after Priya’s bridging visa expired.
In Melbourne more than 1,000 people gathered on the steps of the State Library before marching through the city. Speaking at the event, Greens leader Richard Di Natale hit out at Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton for inflicting “senseless cruelty” on the family.
“This is a minister in Peter Dutton taking pleasure in the suffering of others, that’s what going on here,” he said. “It’s barbaric, it’s cruel and it needs to end”.
Here at the #HomeToBilo vigil in Melbourne where 100s of people have turned out to protest the detention & deportation of a beloved #Biloela family. Rallies in every capital city today are putting pressure on the govt to do the right thing! ? #bringthemhome pic.twitter.com/ec9QjoHKO5
— Joshua Badge (@joshuabadge) September 1, 2019
In Sydney, hundreds met in Martin Place, where Labor’s Kristina Keneally called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to embrace the teachings of Christianity.
“As a Christian Australian, my message to our Christian prime minister Scott Morrison [is to] open your heart,” she said. “We’re having a debate right now in Australia about religious freedom. Religious freedom only matters if we as religious people speak up for the values that we hold dear.”
Sydney supporters fill Martin Place. #hometoBilo #Biloela pic.twitter.com/26kjfpgRPY
— HometoBilo (@HometoBilo) September 1, 2019
Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese has also thrown his support behind the family, urging the Morrison government to intervene.
“I’ve raised directly with prime minister Morrison the need for the immigration minister to intervene in this case,” he told the press on Sunday morning. “This would not undermine Australia’s borders. It would simply be the very reason why there is ministerial discretion … to show compassion, to show that there are specific needs for this family.”
#canberra #hometobilo vigil turnout outside our Commonwealth Parliament building. We are asking for compassion so that Priya, Nades & their 2 Australian born kids can go home to bilo. #letthemstay pic.twitter.com/wLJiQtewyd
— Felicity Reynolds (@FlickReynolds) September 1, 2019
Hell, even Alan Jones wants the government to let them stay.
The Prime Minister must personally intervene in this Biloela family case. It is sickening the Government is claiming they aren’t legitimate refugees. Their two children were born in Australia!!! #Biloela #hometobilo
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
This Government claims that no children are in detention- well these children have been in detention.
The little two year old had her second birthday in detention. She wasn’t allowed candles on her cake. This is shameful. #Biloela #hometobilo
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
Peter Dutton says the Tamil family are boat people.
Yes they are.
But how many of you would get on a boat in these same circumstances?
The mother fled Sri Lanka after her fiancee was horrifically burned alive in their village. #Biloela #hometobilo
— Alan Jones (@AlanJones) August 31, 2019
While the federal court has ruled that Priya and Nades are not refugees, the family say they fear they will face persecution if returned to Sri Lanka. On Thursday night, after nearly 18 months in immigration detention in Melbourne, the family was forced onto a plane to Sri Lanka, only to be removed from the flight in Darwin after a last-minute injunction from a federal judge. That injunction has since been extended until Wednesday on the grounds that two-year-old Tharunicaa has never had her claims for asylum formally assessed.
Supporters of the family are calling on Immigration Minister David Coleman to personally intervene in the case, although his boss, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, has repeatedly poured cold water on the idea. In a typically compassionate editorial for The Courier-Mail on Sunday, Dutton accused refugee advocates and “Labor opportunists” of making “false claims” about the family’s case, and reiterated his position that the family “are not refugees”.
“We have got all of the children out of detention who were put there by Labor,” he wrote — although his point was somewhat undermined by the news that Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharunicaa were on Friday night transferred into the detention centre on Christmas Island.
More than 150 supporters of Queensland’s Tamil family have gathered in Brisbane’s King George Square. They sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as the family remains on Christmas Island after a court injunction stopped their deportation on Thursday. #hometobilo @brisbanetimes pic.twitter.com/8coPgI3Xjm
— Toby Crockford (@tobycrockford23) September 1, 2019
Meanwhile, the people of Biloela have continued to call for the family to be returned.
Biloela locals standing together, comforting each other, while we hope for a last minute miracle. #HometoBilo #Biloela pic.twitter.com/m8iW7UU4p2
— HometoBilo (@HometoBilo) September 1, 2019