'The government is right!' Former senator Derryn Hinch wants Tamil family deported 'because they were told they were illegals before they had children in Australia'
- A Tamil family came to Australia illegally by boat and had two children here
- They were living in QLD town of Biloela until put in detention in March 2018
- Family has been sent to Christmas Island amid legal battle over right to stay
- They were due to be deported on Friday, but received a last-minute reprieve
A Tamil family fighting to remain in Australia have said their youngest daughter is scared and has stopped eating properly
A Tamil family fighting to stay in Australia should be deported because they are in the country illegally, according to former federal politician Derryn Hinch.
The government wants to deport Priya and Nades and their two children because they arrived illegally by boat seven years ago.
Thousands including Labor leader Anthony Albanese are protesting and insist the family should be allowed to stay because their children were born in Biloela, regional Queensland.
Former Victorian senator Mr Hinch, 75, explained on Friday why he agreed with the government.
'This couple was told before they had their kids that they were illegals [and] would not be considered for permanent residency in this country,' he wrote on his Facebook page.
'I say, let them go home, apply through regular channels again, come back, and enjoy a life in rural Australia. Even get their application fast-tracked.'
His comments came after the High Court ruled the government could not deport the family, who are detained on Christmas Island, for at least another 12 days - until 4pm on September 18.
The family's barrister Angel Aleksov said they had lodged a new application to stay, which would be decided at an interlocutory hearing the same day.
The family claims that if they return to Sri Lanka they will be persecuted.
Sri Lankan Tamils Priya and Nades, and their two Australian-born children Kopika and Tharunicaa, are likely to be deported
Former Victorian senator Mr Hinch, 75, explained on Friday why he agreed with the government
Their legal case hinges on two-year-old Tharunicaa, who was born in Australia and her right to apply for a protection visa.
Despite being Australian-born, the toddler has been deemed an 'unauthorised maritime arrival' under the Migration Act, which stipulates children of asylum seekers who arrive in the country by boat cannot apply for a visa.
Justice Bromberg said both parties had consented to the delay until a 'full and final hearing' was held.
Her parents Priya and Nadesalingam and four-year-old sister Kopika have been deemed not refugees, not qualifying for Australia's protection, by a succession of courts, including the High Court.
The family had endeared themselves to many members of the community of Biloela, population 6,000.
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Priya cooked curries for the local hospital, while Nades volunteered at St Vincent De Paul and worked at the local meatworks and at Woolworths, collecting trolleys.
On Thursday the family said their youngest daughter is scared and has stopped eating properly.
'Kopika is saying she doesn't like this place, she wants to go back to Biloela. Tharunicaa is not eating proper food. I think they are scared.' the children's mother Priya told The Guardian Australia.
'I don't have any family [in Sri Lanka], only my husband's family. It's not going to be a safe place for our family there.'
'I am asking to both of the ministers kindly and safely please let us go back to Biloela, and please give safety and peaceful life to my daughters.'
Currently the family are the only residents at the Christmas Island detention centre, which had previously been shut down in early 2018.
Biloela, above, has a population of about 6,000 people and is about 120km south-west of Gladstone
Federal Minister for Immigration David Coleman has been called on to intervene in the case
Friend Angela Fredericks, who had to fight for permission to go to Christmas Island to see the family, said their mental torment was heartbreaking to observe.
'The weight of Priya in my arms, just sobbing ... there's just so much heart-break, and so much fear and distress,' she said from the island on Thursday.
'The girls ran up to me and held onto my legs. Kopika, she was always such a cheeky, bright little girl. I see so much frustration in her now.
'Yesterday she was just playing with sticks. Her actions, you can see it, she was just hitting the ground with the stick. I feel like her innocence has gone.'
Priya and the children's father Nadesalingam settled in the Queensland community of Biloela, where they had their two children, after arriving separately by boat in 2012 and 2013.
The family had been in long-term immigration detention in Melbourne until last Thursday, when they were put on a plane for deportation to Sri Lanka.
A judge issued a last-minute injunction - saving them from deportation until 4pm on Wednesday - and the plane was forced to make an emergency stop in Darwin.
The family was taken off the plane and sent to Christmas Island hours later.
A view of the 'green zone' during a tour of the North West Point Detention Centre on Christmas Island, Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Peter Dutton (left) is reluctant to grant visas to the Sri Lankan family. Anthony Albanese, right, said the deportation is 'un-Australian'
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan contacted Mr Dutton's officials after a relative's au pair was detained at the airport in 2015
The Federal Court was told late Tuesday night that Immigration Minister David Coleman decided not to consider using his discretionary powers to allow the family to stay.
Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese visited Biloela shortly after Wednesday afternoon's court decision.
He has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to intervene in the matter.
'It's not too late for the Government to recognise that this isn't a threat to its immigration policy. It's not a threat to Australia's borders,' he said.
'This is just un-Australian in my view... They're contributing to the community. They're supported by the community.
'We have a government that says that what we should have is growth of population in regional Australia.
Mr Albanese pointed to previous efforts by Mr Dutton to intervene in the deportation of two international au pairs.
One of the two au pairs was a French yoga instructor working for a relative of Gillon McLachlan, the CEO of the AFL.
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