Friends, I know you haven’t forgotten about Priya, Nades, Tharni and Kopi.
Under Australian law, Scott Morrison's Ministers have always had the power to bring Priya, Nades and their QLD-born girls home to Biloela with the stroke of a pen.
But after Tharni was medically evacuated from Christmas Island, Minister Alex Hawke used his Migration Act powers to exclude her from visas granted to her mum, dad and sister.
He used his powers to keep four-year-old Tharni in “community detention”, stopping her whole family coming safely home to Biloela, where they’re welcome, wanted and needed.
Priya is terrified that when the visas expire after the election, Mr Morrison will give his Ministers the go ahead to force her family from Australia to danger, just as they tried to do after the 2019 election.
Last year, a Tribunal with the same status as the UK High Court threw out a flawed report the Australian government report is using to deny the terrible dangers Tamil people like Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni face in Sri Lanka.
A report from the International Truth and Justice Project showed that Sri Lankan security forces kept abducting and torturing Tamil people during 2020-2021.
South-East Asian politics expert Professor Damien Kingsbury told the ABC's Australian Story that if Mr Morrison’s Ministers force their family to Sri Lanka, Priya and Nades would be arrested and forced into “re-education” camps, at best. He said that Kopi and Tharni would be put into state-run orphanages.
“At worst, and more likely to see, is that the parents will not just face arrest and 're-education', but likely torture and potentially 'disappearance'”, Professor Kingsbury said.
Anthony Albanese and Kristina Keneally have repeatedly called on Mr Morrison to let Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni family come home to Biloela.
But as we all learned in 2019, there are no crystal balls when it comes to elections.
With hope,
Angela