A TAMIL asylum seeker family held in immigration detention for four years is on the way home to Biloela in central Queensland, with best wishes coming from friends, supporters and local service agency, Vinnies.
This morning the Murugappan family flew out of Western Australia bound for Queensland, where they will live in the community on bridging visas while their immigration case is resolved in court.
Priya, her husband Nades and their daughters Kopica,6, and Tharnicaa, 4, were met by media as they arrived at Perth Airport.
“Me and my family are very happy to start our journey back to my community in Bilo,” Priya Murugappan said, adding thanks to the community in Western Australia, where the family has spent the past 12 months.
Priya Murugappan also thanked staff at Perth Children’s Hospital. Her youngest daughter Tharnicaa was treated for a blood infection there after she was evacuated from Christmas Island a year ago.
Vinnies in Biloela, where Priya had worked as a volunteer, were amongst the many wellwishers as the family headed home.
“We welcome the Murugappan family back into the Biloela community. Our St Vincent de Paul Members in Biloela are excited by the news and will continue to work with the community to support the family as they return home,” Vinnies Queensland CEO Kevin Mercer said.
Tharnicaa will celebrate her fifth birthday in Biloela on Sunday. She was just nine months old when the family first entered detention.
The Murugappan family is expected to arrive in Biloela on Friday in time for the town’s weekend Flourish multicultural festival, that is already being promoted as a welcome home party.
The family has been through four years of legal proceedings in an attempt to stay in Australia. They were taken from Biloela, moved to Melbourne, and later to Christmas Island.
They were held in the island’s detention centre for two years until then immigration minister Alex Hawke moved them to community detention in Perth in mid-2021.
A change in government has allowed their return to Biloela.
Prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said he was proud the family was returning home.
“We grabbed this family in the middle of the night, took them down to Melbourne, then took them to Christmas Island, then they’ve ended up in Perth,” he said on Wednesday.
“These little girls, who were born in Australia, have got not just mental health issues but physical health issues as well.”
Members of the Biloela community rallied to support the family, and a campaign “Home to Bilo” resulted in nearly 600,000 people signing a petition in their support.
One of the campaign leaders has been Angela Fredericks, a local mental health social worker and an Anglican parishioner.
In 2019, as the “Home to Bilo” campaign gathered steam, she posted on social media: “All my life I have been Christian and have spent a lifetime learning about Jesus, the son of God who stood up for people who were downtrodden, marginalised or poor. He often challenged leaders and political figures, even though he knew it would impact his reputation and advancement, ultimately costing him his life. Jesus fought not just to transform individual’s lives but to change the systems that perpetuated inequality, poverty, exclusion and exploitation.”
