Heartbreaking moment Tamil girls dance to children's nursery rhymes on Christmas Island blissfully unaware of their family's deportation battle - after Peter Dutton accused them of wasting $10million of taxpayers' cash
- Daughters of Tamil family facing deportation spotted dancing to nursery rhymes
- Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, blissfully unaware of their family's deportation
- Parents Priya and Nades both came to the country on boats during the civil war
- Peter Dutton claims they are wasting massive $10million of taxpayers' money
The two daughters of a Sri Lankan family locked up on Christmas Island have been filmed playing with a teacher, blissfully unaware of their deportation battle.
Heartbreaking video shows Kopika, four, and Tharunicaa, two, singing nursery rhymes as they play with Angela, who flew out from Queensland to see them.
The Murugappan family - including the girls' parents Priya and Nades - are being detained on Christmas Island at an estimated cost of $20,000 a day.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton wants to deport the family and claims their deportation fight has cost Australia $10million.
But the Tamil family - who lived in Biloela in Queensland - claim they will face persecution if Sri Lanka if they are sent back. The two girls were born in Australia.
The girls are joined by a woman known as Angela, who has flown twice from Biloela, a town in Queensland where the Tamil family used to reside in
She sings with them, 'Row row row your boat', 'Ring Around the Rosie' and 'Five Little Monkeys'. as the girls gleefully sing along
Priya and Nades Murugappan and their Australian-born daughters Kopika and Tharunicaa are fighting deportation
The family have been on Christmas Island since August after first being taken into detention in 2018.
Mr Dutton has said the parents are being 'unfair on their children' for fighting deportation in the courts.
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In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, the family's lawyer, Carina Ford, said it was actually Mr Dutton who was costing the taxpayer by refusing to let the family come back to the mainland while their case is pending.
'The same argument applies that he's being unfair by detaining them, it's as simple as that,' she said.
Kopika (right) and Tharunicaa (left) are pictured at the detention centre on Christmas Island on January 28
Kopika and Tharunicaa (in pink)
Priya is pictured in hospital in a photo shared by campaigners for the family on July 23
'I feel that trying to flip it around and blame the parents like that hasn't worked for Minister Dutton.
'I think people can see that it doesn't make sense for the person detaining the children to blame the parents.'
She added: 'We are using taxpayer dollars to detain them but they could be in the community while their case is pending, actually contributing, because Nades used to work in the local meatworks, and costing the taxpayer no money.
Advocates for the family claim the mother-of-two was forcibly removed from the hospital in Perth (bottom-left on map) on Wednesday by as many as 15 Border Force personnel
The couple's two children are pictured - Kopika and Tharunicaa (in grey)
'Can you justify spending this amount of money on keeping a detention centre open that no-one else is using? I don't think you can. Maybe that's something the government can re-consider.'
Priya and Nades came to Australia by boat separately in 2012 and 2013, alleging they were escaping the Sri Lankan civil war.
They met in Sydney before getting married and settling in Queensland where they had two children, Kopika, four, and Tharunicaa, two.
The family rented a small house, paid for with money Nades earned by working at an abattoir.
While her husband put food on the table, Priya looked after the children and attended Biloela Baptist Church craft group where she made dozens of friends.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) told the family to go back to Sri Lanka - where they fear persecution
But they were kicked out in March 2018 when their home was raided by police at 5am, the day after Priya's bridging visa expired.
Locals started a petition for the family to be allowed to stay and it has been signed by 350,000 people across the country.
The United Nations has also requested the family be let off Christmas Island but the government has ignored those calls.
Minister Dutton does not believe the family are legitimate refugees and wants to deport them - but the courts have ruled they cannot be sent home until their legal proceedings are over.
A Federal Court judge in April ruled their deportation must remain on hold after determining the youngest daughter had been denied procedural fairness in her bid to apply for a protection visa.
The family are stuck on Christmas Island. Pictured: A detention centre on the island
The government was also ordered to pay the family more than $200,000 in legal fees.
The family now faces a long wait for their next hearing, which could be late this year or early next year.
Meanwhile, Priya, who has underlying health conditions, was last Saturday airlifted to hospital in Perth with severe abdominal pain and is still receiving treatment there.
Speaking on Sydney radio 2GB last week, Mr Dutton said the family should stop fighting deportation.
'This case has gone on since 2012 I think, and it must have cost now… probably over $10 million,' he said.
'That's money that should be going into... communities and helping Australian citizens.
Priya and Nades (pictured) came to Australia by boat separately in 2012 and 2013, alleging they were escaping the Sri Lankan civil war
'They are not refugees and they have used every trick in the book to make sure they can stay.
'This is a situation of their own making, it is ridiculous, it's unfair on their children, and it sends a very bad message to other people who think that they can rort the system as well.'
Ms Ford said if Mr Dutton wanted to save taxpayer money he could grant a protection visa and allow the family to stay in Australia.
Priya and Nades Murugappan and their two young daughters are the only people being detained on Christmas Island at an estimated cost of $20,000 a day
Nades (left with his family) has claimed he will be persecuted in Sri Lanka because he was forced to join the militant group Tamil Tigers in 2001
'That's always been our position in this case. It's open to the minister to not have this go on and spend more money on it. The choice is his.'
Ms Ford says she believes there is a 'good prospect' of her winning the case, which centres on two-year-old Tharunicaa, whose visa claim was never assessed.
She will also be arguing that Nades should have his application re-assessed because new evidence has emerged proving he will be in danger if he is sent home.
Priya (pictured with her huband) has claimed she watched her former fiance get burned alive and was raped during the Sri Lankan civil war which lasted from 1983 to 2009
Nades has claimed he will be persecuted in Sri Lanka because he was forced to join the militant group Tamil Tigers in 2001 and was harassed by the Sri Lankan military.
The Immigration Assessment Authority rejected the claims on the basis he frequently travelled between Sri Lanka, Kuwait and Qatar for work between 2004 and 2010 during the civil war, something that a Tamil Tigers member would not be allowed to do.
Priya has claimed she watched her former fiance get burned alive and was raped during the Sri Lankan civil war which lasted from 1983 to 2009.
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