Dutton: Tamil family moved to avoid protests
A family of Tamil asylum seekers facing deportation was taken to Christmas Island to avoid potentially dangerous protests, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says.
Lawyers for the family say the government’s decision to move them to the territory 2000km from Perth is frustrating preparations for court hearings central to their final bid to stay in Australia.
Priya, her husband Nadesalingam and their Australian-born children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, were taken from Darwin to the island over the weekend.
The family had been in longterm immigration detention in Melbourne until Thursday night when they were put on a plane for deportation to Sri Lanka.
But a judge issued a lastminute injunction and the family was taken off the plane when it landed in Darwin. A court is due to hear the youngest child’s case for Australia’s protection tomorrow.
Dutton said the family had to be moved offshore because keeping them on the mainland risked heightened protests that could endanger Australian Border Force officers.
‘‘I don’t want a volatile situation in Victoria or in Darwin, where people are barricading this family in the hotel they were staying at,’’ he told Nine’s Today programme yesterday.
‘‘A decision was made for operational reasons to take this family to Christmas Island. They are not in detention up there.
‘‘They have the ability to fly directly from there to Sri Lanka without the protesters barricading themselves, in a position where cars can’t get past.’’
Despite protests in capital cities and the family’s adopted home of Biloela in Queensland, over the weekend calling for the government to allow them to stay, Dutton isn’t budging.
While he understands the compassion people feel, the minister maintains a succession of courts, right up to the High Court, have found their claims for asylum have no merit.
The government is under mounting pressure from Labor and the Australian Greens who argue the level of community support for the family shows there was a strong case for ministerial intervention.
Some MPs are also backing the family, with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce saying they were a special case.
‘‘The kids ... they are born in Australia. They are Australians as far as the community is concerned,’’ he said
‘‘They are not their parents and I think we have to consider it in a different light. Time has moved on.’’–