Updated
A Tamil family due to be deported overnight have been
granted an interim injunction to prevent their transportation back to
Sri Lanka, their lawyer has told the ABC.
Key points:
- The family was already on a flight from Melbourne to Darwin when the injunction call came
- Protesters rushed to Melbourne airport to show support, even gaining access to the tarmac
- The family of four had been held in detention since March 2018 after living in Biloela for three years
The injunction was granted over the phone by a judge.
A plane carrying the family and their two daughters departed Melbourne around 11:00pm on Thursday and landed in Darwin shortly before 3:00am today.
Footage captured by a waiting member of the public in Darwin, and broadcast live on Twitter, observed the family escorted from the aircraft and taken away in a white van to an undisclosed location (watch from minute 40:00 of the replay).
The injunction states the Minister for Immigration, David Coleman, is restrained from removing the family from the Commonwealth of Australia until 12:00pm on August 30, 2019.
A hearing has been listed for 10:00am today before Judge Riley in the Melbourne Registry of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
Earlier, it was reported the refugee family from Central Queensland was taken to Melbourne's Tullamarine airport late last night ahead of their sudden deportation.
The Tamil family have told friends they were taken from the Melbourne detention centre by Border Force Officers and separated from their two Australian-born daughters.
Nades, Priya and their children — four-year-old Kopika and two-year-old Tharunicaa — had been living at Biloela before being placed in an immigration detention in Melbourne in March 2018 when Priya's bridging visa expired.
Their last bid to have their case reviewed was rejected in May by the High Court.
Last week, the Government blocked an application for an assessment of the dangers that their toddler, Tharunicca, faces if she is sent to Sri Lanka.
A friend of the Sri Lankan family says the move to deport them came suddenly last night.
"I [got] a video call and their whole unit is surrounded by about 20 guards, Priya was just sitting in a chair and [border force guards] were telling them they were being deported tonight," said Simone Cameron, a former resident of Bioela who taught Nades English.
Ms Cameron said she had been in contact with Priya during Thursday night's ordeal.
"Priya reports that some of the guards have been rough and aggressive with her, that she can't feel one of her shoulders," Ms Cameron said.
"She asked for the chance to go and change her clothes and they refused her that.
"She was put into one van and the girls were put into a different van."That was terribly traumatic for them because they don't know what's happening.
"These people have a history of trauma that some of us just don't really understand."
Priya is a diabetic and has been unwell for the past five days with chest pains and high blood pressure.
"She's repeatedly asked for appointments with the doctor at the detention centre and they fobbed her off a lot," Ms Cameron said.
"We're just trying to make sure that we talk her through having some deep breaths, telling her what support there is out there for them.
"She's panic-stricken."
'Low blow by our government'
It's understood the family were given very little notice before being driven to Melbourne airport, where they were loaded onto a plane bound for Darwin."They were literally handed the deportation document as they were surrounded [by border force guards]," said Angela Fredericks, a family friend and resident of Biloela.
"It's a complete low blow by our government."
Advocacy group Home to Bilo urged people to go to the airport to support the family.
Tamil Refugee Council spokesperson Aran Mylvaganam said two protesters were arrested by the Australian Federal Police for crossing a fence when the family was being loaded onto the plane.
"We chanted, we tried many different ways to stop the deportation, and two of our supporters managed to cut through the fence and go to the tarmac area, where the family was being held," he said.
One of the two supporters was on the phone with Mr Mylvaganam as she stood on the tarmac with the family, he said.
"I could hear the children crying as they were trying to drag Priya and Nades onto the plane," he said.
Fear of persecution in Sri Lanka
The family have been fighting the deportation case on the basis they have a fear of persecution if they return to Sri Lanka because of past family links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.That was rejected by authorities and the Federal Court dismissed the assertion their case had not been given adequate consideration.
Nades and Priya arrived in Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013 and had been living and working in Biloela for around three years.
They married and had two daughters in Australia.
Biloela residents have rallied around the family, campaigning for their return to the community.
"Priya came to this country after witnessing the death of her fiancé, who was burned alive together with five other men in her village. Nades also fled to Australia fearing for his life," Mr Mylvaganam said.
He said the attempts to deport the family were devastating for the Tamil refugee community in Australia, saying it would "create more fear".
He added that the Sri Lankan Government maintains a heavy military presence and continues to carry out torture and disappearances.
"The most feared man, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who oversaw the murder of tens of thousands of Tamils in 2009, he is the presidential candidate, and he's expected to win," Mr Mylvaganam said.
"Tamil lives are in danger in Sri Lanka. The situation is getting worse, and Priya and Nades shouldn't be sent back to a country [where] they fear for their lives."The community loves them. We beg the Australian Government to sent them back to Biloela and let them live a normal life."
'They were part of the fabric'
Ms Cameron said the family had become a part of the tight-knit Biloela community."They're just lovely, salt-of-the-earth people," she said.
"They've had such a traumatic life living through a war and they just thought a town like Biloela was the answer to their dreams."
Ms Fredericks said before being detained, Nades volunteered at St Vincent's de Paul and worked in the local abattoir.
"They were part of the fabric here," she said.
"They are just the most down-to-earth, generous, kind, open-hearted people and such an asset to this country."
- Tamil asylum seeker family 'whisked away' for deportation draws massive community support
- Tamil family from Biloela loses last legal bid to avoid being deported
- More concerns about health of two Tamil children in immigration detention
- Biloela residents bring fight to return 'loved' asylum seeker family home to Q&A panel
- Tamil family from Biloela hope to take their fight against deportation to High Court
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