ROCKHAMPTON Bishop Michael McCarthy penned a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying the Murugappan family were like many Australian families who came in search of a better life.
“The Murugappan family came to Australia because we are a wonderful country and through the work of Australian Governments have made Australia, a great place to live and raise a family,” Bishop McCarthy said.
“This was the motivation of all our ancestors who came to this land, seeking a new way of life and most fulfilling as in the case of the Murugappan family, the UNHCR criteria.”
The Murugappan family, Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two daughters Tharnicaa, 4, and Kopika, 5, were detained during a raid on their home in Biloela in 2018 when their visas expired.
Parents Priya and Nades came to Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013 following Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war.
Both claim they face persecution in Sri Lanka due to links to the Tamil Tigers – a group that fought for liberation during the war.
They married and settled in Biloela, where their two daughters were born.
Their arrest and detention came after their four-year bridging visas expired.
First they were placed in a Melbourne detention centre, and have spent the past two years on Christmas Island where their days are spent in a demountable consisting of a bedroom and living room, in the Phosphate Hill Immigration Facility.
The family’s plight has drawn national attention from all sides of politics.
Bishop McCarthy said as the bishop of Rockhampton diocese, which Biloela parish falls under, “I ask that the Australian Government reconsiders the application of the Murugappan Family and allow them to stay in Australia and return to their friends at Biloela who have supported them emotionally”.
“I also ask you to reconsider all our people who might be caught up in detention centres awaiting a chance for a new life,” he said.
“They, like my ancestors, wanted the best for their children.
“My many years of working with people who have come as refugees from Asia, Africa, Latin and Central America and Europe, bring an incredible richness and giftedness to our land and especially in the next generation.
“As a sixth-generation Australian, whose own ancestors left Ireland and England in 1839 and 1859, I ask that the policy be reviewed and that those languishing in detention centres be given hope and assurance that Australia is a welcoming country that values diversity and genuine compassion.”
Bishop McCarthy’s letter was sent as the country awaited the medical results of the youngest of the Murugappan family, Tharnicaa, who was taken to a Perth Hospital after contracting a blood disease.
Tharnicaa has since been released from hospital but the family remain in detention as they await legal proceedings.
Federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has said the asylum seeker family can live in Perth in community detention while they access medical care.
Mr Hawke said this was not a pathway to permanent settlement.
