Murugappan Asylum-Seeker Family on Verge of Legal Victory and A Return to Biloela

Nick Pearson in 9news, 16 February 2021, where the title reads “Biloela family spared deportation for now, but remain on Christmas Island”

The Federal Court has stopped the deportation of a family from the Queensland town of Biloela, upholding a decision made in April 2020 which the Department of Home Affairs had sought to have overturned. But Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two young children will remain in Christmas Island Detention Centre for now. The Murugappan family’s lawyer Carina Ford are now considering an appeal to get the family back to their home in Biloela.

A Tamil asylum seeker family is fighting deportation to Sri Lanka. (Facebook)

“We will be reviewing the decision and considering appealing to the High Court, and unless the Minister provides an undertaking not to remove, we will apply for an injunction,” Ms Ford said in a statement. “We also think this justifies the release of the family from detention. There are several Ministers who have always had the discretion within the immigration portfolio to release this family into the community while their legal matters are resolved. That was the case in 2018, 2019 and 2020. It remains the case now, too.”

The family’s two daughters were born in Australia. (Facebook)

The family’s home in the rural Queensland town was raided at 5am on March 5, 2018, and the family have been held in immigration detention ever since. “Thank you to everyone in Australia for the support and love that they have shown us. We are very grateful. It helps us stay strong,” the Murugappans said in a statement.

“We just want to go back to Biloela. We need our little girls to be safe. Every day, they ask “when can we go home?” Today’s appeal related to the youngest member of the family, Tharunicaa, who was born in Australia. In April last year Justice Mark Moshinsky ruled Tharunicaa had not been given procedural fairness in applying for an Australian visa.The ruling halted their deportation to Sri Lanka.

The Department of Home Affairs appealed the decision, but the full Federal Court upheld it this morning.

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