Biloela family wins Federal Court case in the fight for freedom from detention

Update: An apology to readers. An error in the heading may have caused some confusion. Thanks to the readers who pointed this out. The error has been corrected. It happened that cyber attacks on this site over the previous two days slowed down the response. We will do out best to prevent errors like this in the future.

Contributed by Ugly

A lot of people supporting the Biloela family’s bid to stay in Australia, will be happy that the Federal Court ruled that they can leave detention ad return to their Australian home.

Priya, Nadesalingam, and their Australian-born daughters (4) and Kopika (2), have been locked up on Christmas Island since being taken into custody on 1 August last year.

The Biloela’s have every reason to be happy about this result. It moves them closer to achieving their goal of staying.

The Tamils came to Australia because of persecution in Sri Lanka. The Australian government had denied a permanent visa and had been trying to send them back, despite being contributors to their adopted community, which continued to show their support for them. Whenever they appeared in court during the long fight to stay, there were always plenty of supporters on the scene.

Their plight made news and the support started to come in from around the country, creating a wave of pro- Biloela family public opinion. The case became an embarrassment to the government.

Their barrister, Angel Aleksov, argued that a determination by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in July 2017 allowed her to apply for a visa.

The Federal Court decision comes from its determination that the two daughters were born in Australia did not receive justice.

Tharunicaa had the right to apply for her own protection visa. The minister David Coleman has opened the door to it through his administrative action, and she had not been advised when her case was looked into last year.

Kopika had been denied procedural fairness, the Court ruled.

Although the detention has ended, permanent residence has not been granted yet. This is in the hands of the government. It now has to decide its next move.

16 Comments on "Biloela family wins Federal Court case in the fight for freedom from detention"

  1. Best news ever in current times. I hope that they will get permanent residency soon as well.

  2. Jeff Richardson | 20 April 2020 at 1:52 pm | Reply

    About time this good family were treated properly. What they have been through in the hands of Dutton is a bloody disgrace.

  3. This family has my whole hearted support.Ithink this govt. is an embaresment to Australia & should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

  4. Anne Terrell | 20 April 2020 at 2:56 pm | Reply

    this is the best news I have heard for a while. This family have proved themselves to be able to adapt and merge into valuable community members . This should be credentials in themselves to allow citizenship for those who have escaped traumatic situations overseas .

  5. George Jereley | 20 April 2020 at 3:07 pm | Reply

    It is a joy that this family has won a reprieve, albeit temporarily, and can return to their Australian home. No doubt there will be months of mental anguish whilst our inhumane, callous
    government continues its opposition.

    I wish this wonderful much strength. They have already shown their determination.

  6. YES YES YES BRING THEM HOME TO AUSTRALIA
    EAT SHIT AND DIE POTATO HEAD .

  7. Dianne Cramer | 20 April 2020 at 3:53 pm | Reply

    Well deserved. We need decent families and not the riff raff that are despoiling our communities.

  8. The money that taxpayers have spent on this case and also on Manus and Nauru is completely out of proportion to the problem. It could have allowed for these people to be resettled years ago. The government should grant them amnesty and allow them to stay. Saying they will start up the boats again is a lie. More people come by plane and overstay their visas. This is torture of a minority because of warped ideology. Time to act was ages ago, but it’s never too late to free these people.

  9. Wonderful News, common sense has prevailed, but it took far too long.
    Now they have to wait again to see if permanent residency will be granted.
    Their community will rally round and support them through this I’m sure.

  10. Sorry to say that this is only partly true. While they did win the court case, they haven’t been released from detention.

  11. That’s great news. Imprisoning a family with small children was unforgivable and should be a matter of shame for Australia

  12. Wow, wow, wow! What good news. Now to get them here permanently. Bravo to the Biloea community and everyone who showed support. This stuff works! So grateful.

  13. This is not correct. Although they won in Federal Court, they have not been released. Please send them #HomeToBiloela: https://www.facebook.com/solidaritywithBiloela

  14. They have NOT been released. They remain in detention. This article is inaccurate and irresponsible. The Court found that the youngest child had not been afforded procedural justice. They fight on, but remain locked up.

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