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The Guardian: Calls for asylum seekers to be freed from detention after Melbourne guard tests positive for Covid

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The Guardian: Calls for asylum seekers to be freed from detention after Melbourne guard tests positive for Covid

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Asylum seeker advocates are calling for people held in immigration detention to be released into the community after Victorian health officials revealed a guard at a facility in Melbourne had tested positive for Covid-19.

Victoria's Covid commander, Jeroen Wiemar, on Sunday confirmed at least one coronavirus case at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accomodation centre in Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north.

But Wiemar downplayed the potential for spread at the detention centre, stating the guard worked outside and had no contact within the facility with staff or people at the centre.

Refugee advocates said they have heard of a second guard at the facility who may also have tested positive for Covid, and between 35 and 45 staff were now isolating after being identified as close contacts. Australian Border Force (ABF) has not responded to requests to confirm those figures.

Sadaf Ismail, detention rights advocacy program manager at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the asylum seekers held in the centre had been told by ABF about the case, but had not been offered any testing. Ismail said some were only offered their first dose of the vaccine last week.

"Most of the clients who are in those detention centres ... they were medically evacuated for other health reasons," she said.

Ismail said she was not comforted by the idea that the guard worked outdoors.

"They do interact ... you know how transmissible Delta is. It's also been reported the guard let people in and out [of the centre] ... so the guards do have a lot of interaction with the clients."

The majority of Australians aged 18 and over are now eligible for a Covid vaccination if they are willing to consider the AstraZeneca vaccine, and provided they do not have a history of specific health conditions.

In addition to the government's official eligibility checker, which lists some clinics near your location which might have vaccination appointments available, there are a number of other helpful resources that can help you to find somewhere that has appointments open.

You can find our comprehensive guide to finding a vaccination appointment here.

Thank you for your feedback.

A group of 140 organisations, including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Law Centre, have called on the federal government to release asylum seekers and refugees held in immigration detention into the community.

Graham Thom, refugee coordinator at Amnesty International Australia, said Australia should look at what has happened with Covid outbreaks in detention overseas.

"We have seen clear examples from around the world of what happens when governments ignore medical advice and keep people looked up in overcrowded detention centres, leading to the catastrophic spread of Covid-19," he said.

"It is difficult to understand why Australia hasn't followed best practice and released into the community those, like recognised refugees, that clearly pose no threat. While this should have been done over a year ago it must certainly be a priority now."

On Monday, Weimar distanced the Victorian government from the testing at the centre, stating it was a matter for the federal government.

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Calls for asylum seekers to be freed from detention after Melbourne guard tests positive for Covid

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Asylum seeker advocates are calling for people held in immigration detention to be released into the community after Victorian health officials revealed a guard at a facility in Melbourne had tested positive for Covid-19. Victoria's Covid commander, Jeroen Wiemar, on Sunday confirmed at least one coronavirus case at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accomodation centre in Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north.

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ABC: No Place Like Home - The Biloela Family

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ABC: No Place Like Home - The Biloela Family

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INTRODUCTION: Hello, I'm Michael Caton, an Australian Story recent alumni. And tonight's story is about something I'm deeply concerned with. It's also set in the town where I lived as a baby - Biloela in central Queensland. Bilo is a small town with a big heart and they've been fighting for the return of a family originally from Sri Lanka who were placed in detention three and a half years ago. With legal challenges against deportation all but exhausted, it's coming down to the wire.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: It was an early morning raid. Priya was preparing milk for Tharnicaa. Twenty Border Force officers and so-called guards stormed their house. They were given 15 minutes to pack their belongings. Priya was not even allowed to change the children's clothes.

PRIYA NADARAJA: No allowed the baby my hand. Everywhere, police. But I don't know why come to my house.

NEV FERRIER, LOCAL MAYOR: They swooped in grabbed the hubby and then the wife and took the kids as well away from the wife and they were all separate, thrown in the car and headed off.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: People in Biloela were absolutely outraged when Nades and Priya and the girls were taken. And we just knew we had to throw everything we had at getting them home.

MARGOT PLANT, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I've lived in a lot of rural towns in Queensland but Biloela is Biloela and you don't muck with Biloela people. And Nades and Priya they're Biloela people.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Everybody that I speak to, even if they haven't heard of the name Priya and Nades, they would have heard about the Tamil family from Biloela. They are the most popular refugee family in Australia.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Nades and Priya have always kept a strong sense of optimism that they would go back to Biloela one day. But trying to parent their children in detention - I think the stress has just worn them down over time.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: My family are not criminals. Only refugees.

PRIYA NADARAJA: I don't tell our girls about the visa situation. They must be healthy children and have a safe life.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: They're still in detention. They're still bound to that house in Perth. And they're still at the hands of the government. They will be deported unless something's done.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: We've been living running on adrenaline for three and a half years to get the family home. If we can't succeed in this, the reality of what's going to happen to our friends is um unthinkable.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Priya and Nades came to Australia by boat separately. They didn't know each other. But they were both Tamils from Sri Lanka, fleeing the war.

News reporter voice over: In 1983 civil war erupted between the majority Sinhalese population and the ethnic Tamil minority.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: A group of Tamil militants known as Tamil Tigers tried to create a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

EMERITUS PROF. DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: And it went through a number of phases marked by human rights abuses on both sides, by massacres, the use of terrorist activities by both sides.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Like many others, Nades was under pressure to join the Tamil Tigers.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: They took me to a place and blindfolded me. When I asked why they said: 'You have to join Tamil Tigers or we won't let you go.' At that time, I was 16 years old.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: He was part of the political wing of the Tamil Tigers, which meant that he was doing propaganda work.

EMERITUS PROF. DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: The war officially finished in 2009 when the Sri Lankan army crushed the Tamil Tigers and we saw a high rate of disappearances of Tamil people, many, many allegations of torture, of arbitrary arrest and detention and so on.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: [In 2011], the army took me. They created an identity number plate, photographed me and took my fingerprints. They sent everything to the airport saying from now on you will not be able to travel to any country.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Sri Lankan police and the armed forces were targeting anybody who had connections to Tamil Tigers. And the only choice he had was to flee the country.

CAPTION: Nades Murugappan arrived on Christmas Island by boat in early 2012 and sought asylum in Australia.

EMERITUS PROF. DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: By 2012, the Australian government said the war is over, it's peaceful. There is no longer any problem in Sri Lanka. You can all go home. And the Tamil Tigers were deemed to be a terrorist organisation.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: When Nades put in his claim to seek asylum he did not reveal the entire story out of fear of authorities.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: FIVE months later, Nades found out that his claim for asylum was rejected. And then whilst he went through the appeals process, he was issued with a temporary bridging visa, and that's when he came up to Biloela in search of work.

NEV FERRIER, LOCAL MAYOR: Well Biloela, we looking at about five and a half thousand people. We got the Callide Power Station; we got a meatworks with about 430 people work there, 21 nationalities

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I was running a migrant English programme for Teys Meatworks. They found it incredibly difficult to get Australians to work for them. And they had an agreement basically to bring people seeking asylum up to Biloela and with the proviso that they would give them work.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: I got introduced to Simone the teacher for the first time in Biloela. She helped me to type a resume.

DUNCAN DOWNIE, FMR MEATWORKS MANAGER: Nades did a job that we always found hard to fill in unloading cartons from a freezer and he probably did it better than anyone else that had ever done it before or at least as good as the best. Did his job, and you know really the type of employee that you go out of your way to try and find.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: FIVE At this point, Priya hadn't met Nades yet, but like him, she had experienced the horror of war and had lived through some terrible experiences.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Priya is from eastern Sri Lanka, which is part of the Tamil homeland. In 2000 her fiancée and five other men were rounded up by military, the armed forces, and they put tyres around them and burned them alive in front of the whole village.

PRIYA NADARAJA: I could not recover from that and I never thought of having a married life.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Priya was able to flee Sri Lanka and she went to a refugee camp in India. And from there, she came to Australia by boat in 2013. And then she was granted a temporary bridging visa to be able to stay in Sydney while all of her paperwork was processed. Priya and Nades didn't know each other until members of the Tamil community down in Sydney decided to play matchmaker.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Priya didn't want to have a family after her fiancée was burnt alive. Nades because of the uncertain future he was facing he didn't want to start a family either. But the moment they met they realised that they could build a family that they wanted for a long time.

PRIYA NADARAJA: Happy memories my wedding. My life is very good husband.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: Married happy, long time not short time very happy my life.

VASHINI JAYAKUMAR, FRIEND: Nades is a very quiet person, he only talk when he's like when he have to make a point. And he's a very gentle man. They are really great couple and Priya was really happy.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: From day one Priya was very friendly with people in Biloela, she was volunteering and cooking for other people as well. And and she was very loved.

PRIYA NADARAJA: All people is very good, chatting, very kind. I go outside walking everybody ' Hello Priya, hi, how are you?' Hugging.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Whatever the community had to offer, they embraced and participated in. And the community was accepting of them.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: In May 2015, Priya gave birth prematurely to a little girl. The couple named her Kopika.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I was working as the hospital social worker and they referred Priya to me when Kopika was a baby because she was considered an older mum but had a significant trauma history. The visa process was a constant worry for them.

PRIYA NADARAJA: Every time calling the immigration. Very, very hard.

MARGOT PLANT, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: So in early 2016 I was working for Anglicare as a counsellor and the department of immigration asked if I would support them as that they knew that Nades was going to be getting a negative result on his application to stay in Australia. They asked me also to have a team of police, have the ambulance outside waiting in case I tried to he tried to abscond or hurt himself. When they arrived, it was just like men in black suits and a woman in a black suit. The woman read out the denial of application and you could just see him just whole body, just shrinking like that. And they said that the government realises that Nades will probably be arrested on his return to Sri Lanka, however it will just be for a short time. That's when it all started to hit me just how serious this really was.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: How are the children going to be in Sri Lanka? Because I will be arrested on arrival. I didn't know what to do.

MARGOT PLANT, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I sat with him. I held his hand while he cried. All that we knew was that he would remain in Biloela until Priya's application had been processed. That's all I knew.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Priya was pregnant with the second child and Kopika and Priya were invited for an interview with the Immigration Department. She was not accompanied by a legal representative and she had to convince the case manager that she faced dangers in Sri Lanka.

MARGOT PLANT, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Priya disclosed to me why she was so terrified to be returned to Sri Lanka. Nades had made a friend here in Biloela. This gentleman and his family were deported. He was jailed on his return to Sri Lanka. The army contacted the wife of this gentleman and she was pack raped, group gang raped whatever you want to call it. I don't know if you've seen fear. I looked in her eyes that day. It was pure fear. I'll never forget- that stays with me forever.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: In May 2017 Priya and Kopika's application for refugee status was rejected. Priya actually appealed this on the basis that the interview and translation process was really unfair. And then it was only about five weeks after that that Tharnicaa was born.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: From day one it was always a difficult fight. The courts don't look at whether this family is owed protection or not, they don't look at the dangers they face in Sri Lanka, they only look at the process the government has followed.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: The reality, though, in our law is it allows for discretion, it's deliberately there to allow a minister to intervene because they can be exceptional cases

AMANDA VANSTONE, FMR IMMIGRATION MINISTER (2003 - 2007): It's very hard to decide. We look at individual cases but the minister has to look at the principles across the board. How will this case stand up against other cases? If I let this family, why not that one, that one and that one and that one?

DR ABUL RIZVI, FMR IMMIGRATION DEPT DEPUTY SECRETARY (2005-2007): The way ministerial intervention works it doesn't actually set a precedent. This is power that's non- reviewable, non- delegable, non- compellable. It is truly a God power.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I wrote a letter of support to the then immigration minister, Peter Dutton. And so did a lot of other community organisations and community members. And I genuinely thought that the government would be able to see that the family should stay here in Biloela.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: It's very unusual where a person's bridging visa has expired that the next day you would be detained. But in this case, that's exactly what happened.

VASHINI JAYAKUMAR, FRIEND: So normally Priya called me around nine o'clock. I didn't get a call and I suspect that something wrong. One of my other friends went to knock, the car was there the door was left open and like nobody's home.

CAPTION: On 5 March 2018, Border Force officers took the family to a Melbourne detention centre.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: They kept us under house arrest in Melbourne detention. Even if we're sleeping, they'll come every half an hour, open the door and have a look.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: For the first two days the family was not allowed to contact the outside world until they signed voluntary deportation documents.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: I just couldn't believe that that was the way that we did things in Australia, to be honest, and I wasn't the only one. Everyone who knew the family felt the same.
Bronwyn to Angela- We need to let everyone know they're still in Australia...
ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: That's where the fire for the campaign came from.

Rally speech: And we need to get this family back home.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: And we launched the petition, Bring Them Home to Biloela.

Bronwyn in interview- We're calling on Peter Dutton intervene and stop this madness lets actually step up and do the right thing here.

TEGAN ANNETT, FMR LOCAL REPORTER: Because they are such a conservative town, I think there were some people who who agreed with the government's asylum seeker policies and the government's decisions on refugees. But I think I still think the majority of residents really wanted them to come home and supported them.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: We were not trained in any sort of activism or campaigning or anything like that so we absolutely were flying blind for a lot of it.

(Q&A program)
I've come here tonight from Biloela in central Queensland our question tonight is what more could we do to ensure that Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa return home to Biloela. (Simone Cameron in News story) Outside the very complicated legal jargon this is actually just a story about a man his wife their two Australian born daughters and the country town that wants them back.
SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: We fundraised money to start with to put a billboard with a picture of the family in Peter Dutton's electorate. And we have been fundraising to help to pay the legal bills. And as we continued to do that, people all around Australia and the world started to listen up and take notice.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: The family remained in detention in Melbourne for almost a year and a half. They ended up with some very serious vitamin D deficiencies from the lack of sunlight and from the lack of fresh produce.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Tharnicaa though, when that those vitamin deficiencies happened, that was during a very pivotal time in the growth of her teeth and so essentially her teeth came through rotten and decayed and she had to have four of her front teeth removed

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: We had to write letters to get the government to give the girls fresh fruit and vegetables. In May 2019, Federal Court documents show the Immigration Department recommended the Minister exercise his discretion to allow the family to say in Australia.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: This is a letter from the Department of Immigration to then Immigration Minister David Coleman. And it says: 'In the past six months, the department has received 170 letters of support to the appellant and her family, involving at least 18 members of parliament and senators. The remaining MPs have written to you on behalf of their constituents including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Michael McCormack MP; the Hon Tony Abbott, the Hon Julie Bishop, the Hon Barnaby Joyce. We had no idea that so many conservative MPs had been writing to the immigration minister on behalf of the family.

In August 2019, I can remember receiving a video call from Priya and they were surrounded by Serco officers. They were being deported so I panicked and started ringing people.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: Somebody worked out that there was a charter flight about to leave Melbourne Airport. So, we went to that spot.

NIC HOLAS, ACTIVIST: There was about one hundred or so people. We could see one big plane sitting there, white, unmarked plane sitting next to a hangar.

PRIYA NADARAJA: A security guard came and twisted my arm. In that arm my tendon is torn five millimetres.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Priya was dragged onto the plane and we saw the footage of the girls screaming.

PRIYA NADARAJA: My kids are very mentally upset. It's very, very, very hard. I'm two kids' mum; I'm a normal person is mum.

ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: We heard that the charter flight was going directly to Sri Lanka. We knew we were running out of time. Legal avenues were the were our only hope at this point.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: Around eight o'clock I phoned the barrister who had been working on the case to see if he could assist, and it became clear to us that the youngest child had never had her claims assessed. And so, we lodged an application to avoid them being removed. It took about three hours. And by the time they got to Darwin, we had the injunction and they had to be removed off the plane. And then a decision was made early the next morning to transfer them to Christmas Island with no other other people in the detention centre other than them. It doesn't have a tertiary hospital. It's remote and it's oppressive.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: They were placed, not in the upgraded facility, that so much money has been spent on, they were placed in the workers' camp.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: Very dilapidated. Priya actually fell through the floorboards, they were rotten and she fell through up to her knee.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: The girls are now so traumatised they they can't sleep on their own, they need to sleep with their parents. Kopika was really starting to see she is so different to other kids and she was asking why do people always follow us, and she was talking about the guards.

Rally chant- Let them stay let them stay let them stay.
Reporter voice over: What began as a small- town protest spread to cities around the country on the weekend. Carina Ford: We're still in uncertain territory but I guess the fight is not over yet. (News report)
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister: It's not about the public mood it's about what is the right decision in the national interest.
Reporter voice over: The prime minister firm that the family will be sent back to Sri Lanka.
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister: My government's policy has not changed.

AMANDA VANSTONE, FMR IMMIGRATION MINISTER (2003 - 2007):)- Every now and then a person or in this case a family tugs at the heartstrings and people say, oh gee, let's make an exception. But you know why do you make an exception for them and not another person who's equally as nice. I mean this is the politics of proximity. I'm near this person so I want to say you should let them stay. The politics of proximity is not the politics of principle.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: On Monday, the 24th of May 2021, the youngest child became quite sick with a fever. Her mother was very, very worried about that so she asked for the child to be seen by a doctor.

PRIYA NADARAJA: Seven days of high temperature vomiting, all body pain, stomach pain.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: She was being dispensed Panadol, she was given an information sheet about colds and Priya she knew something wasn't right, she knew Tharnicaa wasn't getting better.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: And it just seemed like no one was really concerned except Priya and Nades.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: Eventually, she got fever up to 40, 40.6. Priya has asked: ' You are doing this because this is a refugee child. Would you do this to a child of an Australian? Do you have any conscience?'

Reporter voice over: An Australian born child who spent nearly two years in immigration detention on Christmas Island has been medically evacuated to Perth.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: Fifteen days from her first symptoms she's finally diagnosed with pneumonia and a suspected blood infection.

NIC HOLAS, ACTIVIST: And then just the floodgates opened, the media attention was unlike anything I'd ever seen.
Rallies are popping up everywhere, Gold Coast, Brisbane Newcastle randomly organised to get this family out.
Woman at rally: We can't just sit by and let the Australian government do something like that to another family.

BRONWYN DENDLE, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: And that's when we really did start to see people crossing political lines.

Reporter voice over: Liberal MP Katie Allen said 'this has gone on for too long.'

DR ABUL RIZVI, FMR IMMIGRATION DEPT DEPUTY SECRETARY (2005-2007): The level of parliamentary support, the level of community support for this family is well beyond anything that I have seen in my 30 years' experience in immigration policy.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: About five days after, the good news was that the father and the oldest child were able to be transferred so that the family could all be together to live in community detention in Perth.

ANGELA FREDERICKS, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: So, I'm here at Brisbane airport with Vashini and we're about to hop on our flight to Perth

VASHINI JAYAKUMAR, FRIEND: A lot of tears, you know, a lot of emotion. That was very accessorise the emotion, a lot of emotion to share. I share mine, they share theirs, So it's quite emotional
Angela Fredericks: I know it's so hard. But .. we are going to get through this. OK? That's why we're here. OK? Priya Nadaraja: I don't like here. My mind is always thinking back to Bilo.
ARAN MYLVAGANAM, TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL: They've gone through many legal challenges over the last 3 years. The court processes have only so far helped us get more time.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: So we are here today because the High Court is handing down its decision as to whether it's going to grant special leave for Tharnicaa's case

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: The high court has not agreed to a special leave application, which means that we're now in the hands of the minister to make a decision.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: that's it that's a loss. I know that Nades and Priya are going to be heartbroken once again.

DR ABUL RIZVI, FMR IMMIGRATION DEPT DEPUTY SECRETARY (2005-2007): Frankly in my view and in terms of the policy on ministerial intervention which I administered for over a decade, this is really an open and shut case. Grant a visa. It would take him. It would take him five seconds.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: If the minister doesn't intervene. Then they're likely to be removed.

DR ABUL RIZVI, FMR IMMIGRATION DEPT DEPUTY SECRETARY (2005-2007): It's not a straightforward issue that that it is safe for Tamils to return to Sri Lanka. There are credible people, credible organisations arguing that it is not safe.

DUNCAN DOWNIE, FMR MEATWORKS MANAGER: The United Nations says that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is still very poor, that Tamils still a victim to persecution by the Sri Lankan government, by members of the military, the police and so on. The war may be over formally, but the problems which led to the war have not been resolved.

CARINA FORD, FAMILY LAWYER: The government's position has been that if you allow one person to stay, it may trigger more boats to come but there are so many other laws in place that prevent that in anyway.

DR ABUL RIZVI, FMR IMMIGRATION DEPT DEPUTY SECRETARY (2005-2007): boat turnback policy is operated by Border Force in conjunction with the Australian Navy, who patrol the seas between Australia and Indonesia. We know that when turnback policy is in place, boats don't arrive.

It would appear the government has got itself into a corner on this and having refused it for as long as they have refused to intervene for as long as they have, having spent literally many, many, many millions of dollars detaining this family and having created such a furore in the media on it to now grant the visa would be a very substantial loss of face for the government.

AMANDA VANSTONE, FMR IMMIGRATION MINISTER (2003 - 2007): I think the current government's position is perhaps fairly described as hard line, but I think it has to be. If Australians say, well, we don't want an open- door policy, we don't have a big sign up that says everyone who wants to come, come. So, we set up rules and we expect the government to implement those rules. If you come here by boat, I understand you're not going to stay.

EMERITUS PROF. DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: If the Biloela family returned to Sri Lanka at the very best, they will be arrested when they arrive, they will be investigated and almost certainly have to go into re-education camps for a period of two years. That's the best outcome. Their children will be taken away and put into orphanages because they can't go into the education camps and they will essentially disappear into the system.

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. Their case is a very high profile one, and they will be regarded very poorly by Sri Lanka's authorities, so we'll lose both the parents and the children. The children who are born in Australia.

NADES MURUGAPPAN: My life and Priya's life are over. Now the lives Kopika and Tharnicaa are important. They share their thoughts with us in a lullaby: 'Dad, why are we like this. Why have we come here?'. I say: It's only for a short time. We'll go back to Biloela just as you dream.

My life is there. My spirit is in Biloela.

PRIYA NADARAJA: They [Australians] have accommodated me and my children in their hearts. I thank them for that as long as I live. I await with hope they will continue their support and send us to Biloela.

NEV FERRIER, LOCAL MAYOR: I'm just proud of the town, you know, and the way the women, you know, I don't know how I could go on for three years fighting like this. I think they've done a great job.

SIMONE CAMERON, #HOMETOBILO CAMPAIGNER: There are a lot of things that are special about Nades and Priya. They really gave a lot to Biloela. But I would like to think that that people in Biloela would fight for any of their friends, because if you take away the politics from this story and the complicated legal processes, it is just a story really about standing up for your friends and continuing to say their names.

End captions: The Australian Border Force says the allegation that the family was not permitted to contact the outside world after their initial detention is incorrect.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke declined to be interviewed on the basis that "the family has multiple ongoing legal proceedings [and] it would be inappropriate to comment on their case." mi

Full statement: abc.net.au/austory

On September 16, 2021 Mr Hawke agreed to extend the family's bridging visas by three months.

Producers: Belinda Hawkins and Kristine Taylor

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No Place Like Home | 'The Biloela Family'

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INTRODUCTION: Hello, I'm Michael Caton, an Australian Story recent alumni. And tonight's story is about something I'm deeply concerned with. It's also set in the town where I lived as a baby - Biloela in central Queensland.

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Key statistics

For the year ending 30 June 2020:

There were over 7.6 million migrants living in Australia

29.8% of Australia's population were born overseas

Australia's population increased by 194,400 people due to net overseas migration

368,700 people moved interstate, a decrease of 8.7% from the previous year.

The ABS is changing the way it will publish the content of the Migration Australia publication.

This is the final release in this compendium format. We are producing new publications that are more timely, accessible and reduce duplication where possible. There will be no loss of data through these changes.

In its place will be two new publications: Overseas Migration scheduled for release 17 December 2021, and Australia's Population by Country of Birth scheduled for release 26 April 2022.

This release covers data up to 30 June 2020 and as such, covers the start of the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Some of the changes recorded in this release are due to the impact of the pandemic.

For further information, see the Net overseas migration section below.

Status of data within this publication

Statistics used for the analysis within this release undergo revisions as part of a standard revision cycle. The estimated resident population and the components of population change (natural increase, net interstate migration (NIM) and net overseas migration (NOM)), are referred to as either preliminary, revised or final. For further information, see paragraph 9 of the methodology.

Statistics for the post-release changes to the NOM calendar year data download and the NOM calendar year ABS.Stat datasets have been produced in a later revision cycle and are preliminary for the calendar year 2020. For further information, see the footnotes in the data downloads or the Information pane in the ABS.Stat datasets.

Data notes

In this release, estimates and their components have sometimes been rounded. Rounded figures and un-rounded figures should not be assumed to be accurate to the last digit shown. Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of component items and totals. Analysis featured in this release is based on un-rounded data. Calculations based on rounded data may differ to those published.

Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

17/06/2021 - Standard mid-year updates

The following calendar year datasets now contain revised 2019 data and have had 2020 data added:

1. Net overseas migration, arrivals and departures, state/territory, major groupings and visa - calendar years in Data downloads

as well as the following ABS.Stat datasets:

Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - calendar years, 2004 onwards
Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, major groupings and visas - calendar years, 2004 onwards

The following ABS.Stat dataset has had 2020 data added:

Interstate migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - calendar years, 1997 onwards

Help for: Data Explorer

Estimated resident population, country of birth, age and sex - as at 30 June 1996 to 2020
Estimated resident population, country of birth, state/territory, age and sex - as at 30 June 1996 to 2016, Census years
Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - calendar years, 2004 onwards
Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - financial years, 2004-05 onwards
Interstate migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - calendar years, 1997 onwards
Interstate migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, age and sex - financial years, 1996-97 onwards
Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, major groupings and visas - calendar years, 2004 onwards
Net overseas migration, arrivals, departures and net, state/territory, major groupings and visas - financial years, 2004-05 onwards

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Migration, Australia, 2019-20 financial year

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Statistics on Australia's international migration, internal migration (interstate and intrastate), and the population by country of birth

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National Geographic: Resettling Vietnamese Refugees in the United States

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National Geographic: Resettling Vietnamese Refugees in the United States

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Resettling Vietnamese Refugees in the United States

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What steps did the Ford Administration take to relocate South Vietnamese refugees following the Vietnam War?

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National Museum of Australia: First arrival of Vietnamese refugees by boat

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National Museum of Australia: First arrival of Vietnamese refugees by boat

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How did most Vietnamese refugees arrive in Australia?

Refugees kept fleeing Vietnam during the late 1970s. In 1978 a total of 106,489 refugees arrived in Hong Kong and South-East Asian countries. Between 1978 and 1979 another 166,604 refugees arrived.

Vietnam's neighbouring countries struggled to cope with the growing numbers of refugees. Many refugees arrived by boat to seek safety, but were only given fuel and sometimes food then sent back out to sea. Lam Binh and his group were sent away several times before deciding to try to reach Australia.

Australia promised to take in more refugees, but only if South-East Asian countries would stop turning away boats. The Australian Government sent officials to the refugee camps to choose the refugees who would be given an Australian visa. These refugees then travelled by plane to Australia. This is how most Vietnamese refugees arrived in Australia. Until 1983 Australia took more than 15,000 Vietnamese refugees each year.

Since 1976 when the Lam brothers and their friends arrived, Australia has become home to a successful Vietnamese community. In 2016 the national census showed that 219,355 people in Australia had been born in Vietnam.

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First arrival of Vietnamese refugees by boat | Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom | National Museum of Australia

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On 26 April 1976 the first boatload of refugees fleeing Vietnam sailed into Darwin Harbour. They, and those who followed, left Vietnam following the Vietnam War. Over the next few years about 2000 more refugees travelled to Australia in boats.