Over 250,000 Australians have been campaigning to stop the deportation of a Tamil family from Australia to Sri Lanka. Despite their campaign for fairness, “the Morrison government still insists on denying assistance to the Biloela family,” Meggan Devery writes for Independent Australia.
“In early September, Scott Morrison rejected calls from across the nation to resettle Priya, Nades and their two young daughters back in their hometown of Biloela. Dismissing the ‘public sentiment’ surrounding the issue, the Prime Minister maintained that ‘if you make the wrong calls on these issues, then you invite tragedy and you invite chaos.’”
“The tragedy and chaos Mr Morrison is referring to is not the systematic persecution, oppression and threat of violence the family will suffer if they are returned to Sri Lanka. It is not the state-sponsored disappearances and arbitrary detention perpetrated against the Tamil minority by the Sri Lankan government. It is not the removal of two Australian-born girls under the age of five from their beloved community to the country their parents desperately fled. What Mr Morrison is referring to is the unevidenced influx of boats that will breach Australian waters due to any display of compassion or humanity towards a person who has sought asylum by similar means.”
“Priya and Nades were forced to flee for their lives in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Like all of those who have sought protection in Australia by boat, this method of arrival wasn’t a choice, but a reaction to the life-threatening situation they were faced with...And now, in spite of the significant risk the family faces if they are deported, our leaders are determined to send them back.”
“Australia is a country of privilege and prosperity. We are gifted the rights, freedoms and protections that people like Priya and Nades have been forced to fight for. We have the ability to speak up, hold our leaders accountable and incite change. With this power comes responsibility. A responsibility to use our voices to fight for those who have had theirs taken away.”
Read the full article here.
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