The Australian Government is not looking to resettle the Biloela family, despite having called regional Queensland home for 6 years.
The family were removed from the central Queensland town of Biloela in 2019 following unsuccessful asylum claims for the three oldest family members: parents Priya and Nadesalingam and their Australian-born eldest daughter Kopika, 5.
The youngest daughter of the Tamil asylum-seeker family, Tharnicaa, 3, was medically evacuated with her mother from Christmas Island with a suspected blood infection.
“I hope that Tharnicaa can get the help she needs now,” said mother Priya Murugappan, making a plea from her daughter’s hospital bed.
“Please, help us to get her out of detention and home to Biloela.”
Speaking to Nine Radio hours after the emotional plea, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews’s office was considering where to resettle the family.
“I understand that there are two options that are being looked at,” said Senator Payne of possible countries for relocation of the family.
“I under the United States is the first of those and that new Zealand is also an option.”
Hey @ScottMorrisonMP is the long term goal with the #BiloelaFamily for all of them to die so they can’t return to Australia or for just their little girls to die so you can ramp up the psychological torture as you spend tens of millions of tax dollars to detain them? #auspol
— Tosh Greenslade (@ToshGreenslade) June 7, 2021
A spokesperson for Ms Andrews said that these options apply “to all those in detention waiting for resettlement”, and not only the Murugappan family.
Priya and Nadesalingam met after fleeing Sri Lanka’s civil war to Australia in 2012 and 2013, establishing themselves in Biloela a year later.
The family was placed in detention in Melbourne in March 2018 after a raid of their home when Priya’s bridging visa expired. However, a court injunction blocked their deportation in 2019.
If parents imprisoned their child for 3 years and denied her medical attention until she almost died of blood poisoning, the child would be taken away from their care and they would be sent to prison. Why should the government be treated any differently? #BiloelaFamily #auspol
— Craig Hill (@CraigHill01) June 8, 2021
In February of this year, a spokesperson from then-Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s department said that the “Australian government’s policy is clear.”
“No one who attempts illegal maritime travel to Australia will be settled here.
@ScottMorrisonMP I’m gonna presume you haven’t consulted with Jenny on the current state of the #BiloelaFamily? No? #ScottyTheChosenOne #hometobilo
p.s also, fuck you and your church too. https://t.co/YKhVGFZNez
— Gemz (@Gemzee89) June 7, 2021
