Today marks 17 months since Mr Dutton’s Border Force snatched Priya, Nades and their QLD-born daughters from their Biloela home.
Can you click through to this facebook event and tell family friend Simone you’ll join her at this Saturday's family-friendly protest near the Melbourne detention centre where this much-loved family is being held?
Simone first met this beautiful family in Biloela, while teaching English to recently arrived migrants. She still remembers dad Nades’ cheery smile when she first met him pushing trolleys in the carpark of the local Woolworths.
Nades was a keen English language student. He soon landed a job at the local meatworks, rising early every day to provide for his young family.
Mum Priya joined local church groups and together, she and Nades made plans to enrol eldest daughter Kopika in kindy.
But everything changed for this family early on the morning of 5 March, 2018. It was 5am and Nades was getting ready for work. Priya was warming a bottle for baby Tharunicaa.
Border Force officers stormed their home, taking this family 1,800km away from Biloela and locking them up in Melbourne’s MITA detention centre.
Before she was taken from Biloela, toddler Kopika loved singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with her playgroup friends.
But since Border Force locked them up 18 months ago, Kopika and her sister Tharunicaa have been allowed to attend playgroup just once. A few days later, the detention centre guards told mum Priya that “someone in Canberra” had put a stop to playgroup.
Kopika is a bright little girl. With Simone helping on FaceTime, Priya and Nades are doing their best to help her keep learning. Kopika loves to sing the alphabet song and on the one day she was allowed to go to playgroup, she made a beeline for the toy stethoscope.
In the last 17 months, more than 200,000 people have signed this petition. Our politicians have received over 10,000 e-mails and many hundreds of phone calls, insisting they bring this family home to Biloela.
I know that many of you are appalled that our elected representatives seem to think they can ignore the wishes of our community. I know I am.
That’s why, at midday this Saturday 10 August, Simone is joining our friends at Teachers for Refugees, Librarians for Refugees, Mums for Refugees and Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children for a family-friendly protest near the MITA detention centre at 120-150 Camp Road, Broadmeadows.
There will be sign-painting, puppet-making, music from kiddy rocker Claire Younis and a reading by June Factor of Far Out, Brussel Sprout! and Alright, Vegemite! fame.
With hope,
Angela xxx
PS Those of you who live in Queensland or other parts of Australia - can you please share this facebook event with your Melbourne friends?