Kristina Keneally has accused Peter Dutton of cancelling her trip to Christmas Island last minute in a series of angry tweets, labelling the move pathetic . Labor senator Ms Keneally said Mr Dutton had cancelled her trip to visit a Tamil family who were taken into detention in 2018. She says just over 20 minutes after she was granted permission by Australia s Border Force, Mr Dutton quashed her access. It comes on a bad day for Mr Dutton, who was trending Wednesday night after questions swirled over why scantily-clad twerkers were deployed to the commissioning of a war ship. The new Defence Minister was, according to the
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A candlelight vigil in the Central Highlands will go ahead for the Tamil family to mark what organisers are coining “three long years” in detention.
A post on the “#HomeToBilo Biloela Dawn to Dusk vigil” Facebook page detailed the vigil and the inspiration behind its organisation.
“Friday 5th March will mark three long years since Border Force snatched Priya, Nades and their two little Queensland-born girls from their Biloela home at dawn, bundling them into cars and locking them away in detention,” the statement read.
“Unless our politicians step in, this beautiful family will have spent 1,095 days in detention, away from the QLD town where they are loved and wanted.”
The Australian Full Federal Court has reached a decision on the youngest member of the Biloela Tamil family, who have been in detention on Christmas Island for more than 1000 days.
The previous decision relating to the immigration status of the youngest Tamil family member, three-year-old Tharnicaa, was upheld - meaning their fight to return home continues.
The Tamil family, consisting of Priya and Nades Murugappan and their Australian-born daughters Kopika, 5, and Tharunicaa, 3, had been living in Biloela when they were transferred to a Melbourne detention centre by immigration officials in 2018.
The family remained in a Christmas Island detention centre following a last minute ruling on an attempt to deport them to Sri Lanka.