A family of asylum seekers fighting to return to the city of Biloela in Queensland has reacted with “tears of joy” to the election results as Labor has promised they can return home.
In contrast, Scott Morrison ruled out interference in the case of Priya and Nadesalingam Murugapan and their two daughters of Australian descent, saying it would give the green light to smugglers and “massacres at sea”.
A statement from Angela Fredericks of Home To Bilo said the family was delighted with the election results because it meant something to them.
“Mr. Albanez has promised to allow our friends Priya, Nades and their girls Kopi and Tarni to return home to Biloela,” she said.
“We just called Priya in Perth and told her she and her family were coming home.
“A lot of happy tears were shed.”
Ms. Fredericks said the “long, painful saga” was finally over.
“This family has been taken away from home for more than four years,” she said. – They should never have been taken from a city that loved and needed them.
“As they set out on a long journey to Biloela to rebuild their lives here, they are also beginning a journey of recovery and healing.”
Priya and Nadezhda are two asylum-seeking Tamils who arrived in Australia by boat from Sri Lanka during the Civil War ten years ago and settled in the central city of Queensland after receiving intermediate visas.
They lived and worked in the town where their two daughters Kopik and Tarnik were born until their visas expired, and eventually in August 2019 they were sent to Christmas Island, where they became the only residents of the detention center.
They were later transferred to Perth after three-year-old Tarnika suffered a blood infection, where they remained suspended from the coalition government despite a proposal by Belaila residents and other supporters to “bring them home”.
https://thewest.com.au/news/election-2022-tamil-asylum-seeker-family-to-return-to-biloela-after-labor-win-c-6891445
