As many of you will know, when detention guards stopped QLD-born Tharni going to hospital for nine days, a national outcry forced Scott Morrison’s Ministers to release our Biloela family from a Christmas Island detention centre and re-unite them on the mainland.

But by excluding four-year-old Tharni from the temporary visas granted to her mum, dad and sister, Minister Alex Hawke is stopping this much-loved family coming safely home to Biloela, where they are welcome, wanted and needed.

When the visas run out, politicians could put this family back in detention - or even force them to war-torn Sri Lanka, where Tamil people suffer terrible atrocities.

In the years since the guards snatched Priya, Nades and their QLD-born girls from their Biloela home at dawn, the whole world has changed.

The global pandemic means rural towns like Biloela are crying out for hard workers like Nades as never before.

A Tribunal with the same status to the UK High Court has thrown out a flawed report the Australian Government relied on to deny the terrible dangers Tamil people like Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni face in Sri Lanka.

And Australians of all beliefs and backgrounds have come together for this family in a way I never imagined when I started this petition over three and a half years ago.

But one thing hasn’t changed. All that’s needed to bring this beautiful family safely #hometobilo is the stroke of a single politician’s pen.

Read on for the full story.

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Priya, Nades and their beautiful little daughters are valuable members of the close-knit rural community of Biloela, in Central Queensland. They have lived here for over three years and are a caring, hardworking family.

One day, this peaceful family were going about their early morning routine. Nades was getting ready to go to his job at the local meatworks and Priya was warming a bottle for the baby.

At 5am, their home was stormed by armed police and Border Force officers. Their seven month old baby and two and a half year old daughters were ripped from their beds. Priya and Nades were told they were being taken to a Melbourne detention centre and given ten minutes to pack up their lives.

Priya and Nades were put into separate vans, driven to Gladstone Airport and flown to a detention centre in Melbourne. Border Force officers told them that if they didn’t sign “voluntary” deportation documents, they would be denied access to a phone, separated and forced back to Sri Lanka.

They begged to be returned to Biloela. But after two days of pressure, they gave in and signed the documents.

This beautiful, gentle family is now being held in a single room by three armed guards.

Priya and Nades were settled in Biloela after fleeing torture and suffering in Sri Lanka. Despite the advice of human rights organisations on the ground, our current Government has decided that Sri Lanka is now safe. This is why they are trying to force Priya, Nades and their two beautiful young children back to Sri Lanka.

The life awaiting this family in Sri Lanka is uncertain. In a country that represses Tamil people, and where child brides and child sex trafficking exist, the future of Priya, Nades and their two beautiful daughters is grim.

Our community is not ready to let this family go. They love living and contributing to our society. We want them here. Mr Morrison, please return this family to Biloela, their home, where they are wanted and welcome.