This is urgent. I need you to join me in showing your support for Priya, Nades and their two beautiful little girls, Kopika and Tharunicaa by Wednesday 2 May. In March, Peter Dutton’s Border Force took this beautiful family from their home in Biloela, central Queensland. Since last minute legal action postponed their removal from Australia, Priya, Nades and their two little Australian-born girls have been isolated in a Melbourne detention centre. But time is running out for this much-loved family. On Wednesday 2 May, the family’s lawyers will appear before the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne. I’m coming to Melbourneto support Priya and Nades as they face the terrifying possibility that they and their beautiful daughters could be forced back to a life of danger and uncertainty. If you live in Melbourne, I urgently need your help to bring Biloela to Melbourne for Priya, Nades and their two little girls. Please join me at the Flagstaff Gardens on the morning of Wednesday 2 May. I’ll have dozens of “Welcome to Biloela” signs and cardboard cockatoos (the symbol of our town) and I’ll need your help to hold them on the day. Find out more and tell me you’re coming at: https://www.facebook.com/events/368013960367348/ No matter where you live, please help me to bring the spirit of Biloela to your town or suburb by taking a photo with your own, home-made “Welcome to Biloela” sign at a local landmark before 2 May. Please send your photos to me at hometobilo@gmail.com and share them on social media with the hashtag #hometobilo. Priya and Nades’ lawyers are doing everything they can to protect this family from being forced from Australia to danger. But the courts can only make a decision on narrow legal questions. I wish that the courts were allowed to consider how Priya use to bring her home-made curries to the doctors up at the local hospital. I wish they could know how Nades volunteered for Vinnies before getting his job at the meat works. And I wish they were permitted to hear how little Kopika asks constantly to see her friends from Biloela, unable to understand that she is far, far away from home. Unfortunately, that’s not how our legal system works when it comes to people seeking safety. But Mr Dutton is allowed to listen. Under Australian law, the Minister for Immigration has the power to intervene at any time. Mr Dutton can allow this beautiful family to remain here in Australia, where they are welcome and wanted. Over the last few weeks, I’ve learned that when it comes to standing up for people seeking safety, it doesn’t matter if you live in a big city or a little town. Biloela has a population of less than 6,000, but over 95,000 people have signed our petition, thousands have responded to a call to send-hand written letters to Prime Minister Turnbull and we’ve seen peaceful protests, vigils – and even a mural! – right around Australia. I know that with your help, we can show Mr Dutton how much we care for this beautiful family. On behalf of Priya, Nades and the people of Biloela – thank you. Angela Fredericks