Home to Bilo

Help me bring this beautiful family home to Biloela by putting up a massive billboard right in the heart of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s Brisbane electorate!

My name is Angela. I live in a little central Queensland town called Biloela. In March, Border Force took my friend Priya, her husband, Nades and their two beautiful, Australian-born daughters from our town in a dawn raid.

Trapped in detention

For the last five months, Priya, Nades, three-year-old Kopika and baby Tharunicaa have been trapped in a Melbourne detention centre.

Kopika has no other to children to play with and asks constantly for her Biloela friends. When Priya told me that Tharunicaa took her first steps in detention, my heart just broke.

Priya needs expert legal help

I need your help to send a message to the people with the power to make Mr Dutton listen.

But first, I need to make sure Priya has expert legal representation when she appeals to the Federal Court on 27 August.

Our first goal of $10,150 will help Priya engage a legal team with expertise in Australia’s complex, ever-changing immigration law, giving Priya and three year old Kopika the best chance for a positive legal outcome.

But we can't stop there

Incredibly, Australia’s confusing, contradictory immigration system means that Border Force could tear Priya’s family apart. Husband Nades and baby Tharunicaa could be forced from Australia – even if Priya’s appeal succeeds.

That's why I need your help to deliver a message Mr Dutton can’t miss. A further $10,065 will pay for a massive billboard a few hundred metres down the road from Mr Dutton’s electorate office in Strathpine, Queensland.

Let's bring this family home

I know how much this beautiful family is loved and wanted by the people of Biloela, where they have lived for over three years.

And I know that under Australian law, Mr Dutton could intervene to bring this beautiful family home to Biloela at any time.

That’s why I’m asking you to chip in towards our total goal of $20,215 to help us take Priya’s story to the people with the power to make Mr Dutton listen - the fellow Queenslanders he represents.

PS With your help, I know that we can achieve this goal. But if for any reason we can’t go ahead with the billboard, we’ll use every dollar over $10,065 to get the message to Mr Dutton’s constituents in whatever way we can: targeted facebook advertising, a full-page open letter in the local press … maybe even skywriting?

Priya, Nades and their Australian-born daughters face deportation to danger on 1st February. I need your help to take Priya’s plea for safety to the High Court.

My name is Angela. For 10 months, I’ve been fighting to bring my friends Priya and Nades and their daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa, home to Biloela, QLD.

Snatched at dawn

When Border Force raided their Biloela home on 5 March, Priya was warming a bottle for the baby and Nades was getting ready for his job at the local meatworks.

The whole family was taken 1,800km away to a Melbourne detention centre, where they have been trapped for 10 months.

Shocked friends and neighbours raised the alarm. We started a 150,000 signature petition. We crowdfunded legal fees to take Priya’s case to the Federal Court. We even put up a massive billboard down the road from Peter Dutton’s office

Mr Dutton has stepped in to help European au pairs, but has done nothing to help this Queensland family.

A few days ago, the Federal Court dismissed Priya’s appeal. Now this beautiful family could be forced to danger on 1st February.

We need to take this to the top

As members of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, Priya and Nades fled war-torn Sri Lanka before finding peace and safety in Biloela.

But changes to Australia’s immigration laws meant their claims for protection were assessed under the flawed “fast track” process, which severely limits the rights of people seeking safety to have their story heard.

This year, UN investigators found that torture of detainees is “endemic and systematic” in Sri Lanka. Tamils forced to return are routinely detained by feared security forces the moment they step off the plane.

That’s why today, I urgently need your help to take Priya’s case to the High Court before 1st February.

I believe we can win this

The latest legal setback has left Priya and Nades devastated and fearful for the future of their beautiful, Australian-born girls. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult the next six weeks will be for them.

But when I started a petition for Priya and her family ten months ago, I never imagined 150,000 Australians would stand with them. I had no idea that emergency legal action would halt their deportation not once, but twice.

Biloela may be a little town, but we have a big voice. Please chip in today so we can keep lending our voice to Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharunicaa - while there’s still time.

PS I know we can do this. But if for any reason we’re unable to secure legal representation to appeal to the High Court, or if we raise more than the cost of legal fees, we’ll use every last cent to do whatever we need to do to support and protect this beautiful family.

UPDATE: We crowd funded the cost of putting a powerful ad in Queensland’s daily newspaper! If you’ve chipped in to make this possible – THANK YOU!!!

Now we need to build an emergency legal fund to ensure Priya can continue exercising her right to appeal to the High Court.

Mr Dutton attacked this beautiful family in a full-page ad in Biloela’s local paper. Can you give Priya and Nades the right of reply by chipping in for a powerful ad in Queensland’s daily newspaper?

My name is Angela. On 5 March last year, Mr Dutton’s Border Force took my friends Priya and Nades and their Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa, from their home in Biloela, QLD.

Isolation and stress

After almost a year in Melbourne’s harsh detention centre, three year old Kopika and 18 month old Tharunicaa are showing the effects of isolation and stress.

Kopika has no other children to play with. Tharunicaa is not eating properly. Both girls have dental problems and vitamin deficiencies.

Attacked on Australia Day

We all know how Mr Dutton stepped in to help out European au pairs after a few phone calls and e-mails.

Over 180,000 people have signed our petition to bring Priya, Nades and the girls home to Biloela.

But instead of bringing Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharunicaa home to Biloela, Mr Dutton chose Australia Day to attack them in a full-page ad in our local paper.

“Illegal” to be born?!?

The ad was riddled with inaccuracy and half-truths. But I couldn’t believe it when Mr Dutton labelled Kopika and Tharunicaa “IMAs”.

Yes, that’s right. To Mr Dutton, these two beautiful little girls born to loving parents in a country Queensland town are “Illegal Maritime Arrivals”.

Kopika and Tharunicaa have never seen the ocean! They’ve never committed a crime - and neither have their peaceful, hard working Mum and Dad. But if Mr Dutton has his way, this beautiful family will be forced to a war-torn country these two Australian-born kids have never known.

This has to stop

Thanks to everyone who supported our last crowdfunder, Priya and Kopika’s legal team have sought leave to appeal to the High Court.

But the courts can’t give Priya and three year old Kopika the right to stay in Australia. At best, they can only send Priya’s case back to the same body that rejected her plea for safety. And Nades and one year old Tharunicaa could still be removed from Australia at any time.

Whatever happens in court, we need the Immigration Minister to intervene to keep this family together, safe in Australia where they belong. That’s why I need to put a powerful ad in Queensland’s daily newspaper.

Emergency legal fund

It’s difficult to predict legal costs in advance. But with fees already running into the tens of thousands, a High Court appeal could cost a further $41,000.

$64,364 is lot of money. But it’s nothing compared to the estimated $1.2 million in taxpayer’s money we believe Mr Dutton has spent to keep this family in detention for a entire year.

With your help, I know we can bring Kopika and Tharunicaa’s story to over 500,000 of their fellow Queenslanders with a powerful newspaper ad. And I know we can build a $41,000 emergency legal fund to take this family’s case all the way to the High Court.

Mr Dutton says there are "zero children in detention". But QLD-born Kopika and Tharunicaa are still locked up 1,800km from the only home they have ever known.

Will you chip in to put this video into the Facebook feeds of up to 315,000 voters before the election?*

My name is Simone. I first met this beautiful family in Biloela, where I taught English to Kopika and Tharunicaa’s dad, Nades. I moved away from Biloela, but for the last 14 months, I’ve been fighting to bring Priya, Nades and the girls “home to Bilo”.

Peace and safety

Before Priya and Nades met in Australia, war and violence had stolen many years of their lives. Neither thought they would ever have a family of their own.

In Biloela, Priya found the peace and safety she longed for. Nades found work at the local meatworks. They settled down to their new life and soon, their two gorgeous girls were born at the local hospital.

Snatched at dawn

In March 2018, Mr Dutton’s Border Force turned that peaceful life upside down, raiding the family home at dawn. Since then, Mr Dutton has kept this beautiful family locked away in a Melbourne detention centre.

Tharunicaa took her first steps in detention. Kopika asks constantly for her Biloela friends, but cries when she sees their faces on Facetime. Both girls have suffered vitamin deficiencies and dental problems.

Last year, Kopika turned three in detention. She had no other children to play with, no candles to blow out and no presents. Unless we do something to make the politicans step up, on May 12 - Mothers Day - Kopika will spend her fourth birthday in detention too.

Dutton has doubled-down

We’ve held public meetings and peaceful rallies across Australia. We’ve put a massive billboard in Mr Dutton’s electorate and a powerful ad on page two of Brisbane’s daily newspaper. We’ve raised funds to launch a High Court appeal. 184,000 Australians have signed our petition.

But Mr Dutton has doubled-down. First, he took to the airwaves to say that this beautiful family’s circumstances are “of their own making”. Then he told Australians that there are “zero children in detention”.

We can’t wait for the election

Right now, political parties are spending untold millions on TV ads, billboards and Facebook advertising to win our votes on May 18. We need to make the politicians listen now, before we vote.

If we hit our first goal of $17,156, I can share Kopika’s story with up to 315,000 voters in key electorates in Queensland and Victoria, every day for fourteen days. I’ll show them how to quickly and easily send a powerful message to the local MPs who are depending on their votes.

*I know not everyone uses Facebook. If we can raise $23,809 by Wednesday 8th May, I can also put powerful, full-page ads in central Queensland’s local newspapers, reaching up to 61,000 readers.

My name is Angela. I’m from a little Queensland town called Biloela, which is fighting to bring Priya, her husband Nades and their two beautiful, Australian-born daughters back to the town they call home.

Last week, Peter Dutton had this family dragged onto a plane to Sri Lanka, a war-torn country their QLD-born girls have never known. When a judge ordered the plane land in Darwin, Mr Dutton forced them to an empty prison camp on Christmas Island.

I couldn’t leave this family alone and terrified in the middle of the Indian Ocean. So I scraped together $3,000 in savings and flew to Christmas Island. I arrived just in time to learn another judge had stopped Mr Dutton forced this family to danger - for two days.

Mr Dutton could force them from Australia to danger as soon as Friday. That’s tomorrow.

In Sri Lanka, Priya saw her fiance burned alive. Nades still carries shrapnel from a government bomb. But in Biloela, they found peace, safety and a place to call home.

For a town desperate to grow its population, it was a “win win”. Nades volunteered at Vinnies and worked hard at the local meatworks. Priya joined church groups and brought her curries up to the doctors at the local hospital.

They are a part of this town, and we just want them home. Now, I need your help to turn this family’s desperate situation around.

Please, can you chip in to build an emergency “bring them home” fund to help Biloela keep up the fight to save this family?

If Prime Minister Morrison goes ahead with his plan to force them to Sri Lanka, we’ll use every last dollar to do everything we can to keep Priya, Nades and their two innocent little girls safe from the security forces known for imprisoning, torturing and disappearing thousands of Tamil people like Priya and Nades. And we’ll keep on fighting to bring them back home to Biloela.

But if Morrison can look into his heart and bring this family straight back home from Christmas Island to Biloela - as hundreds of thousands of Australians have asked - we can give every last dollar to charities working hard to support rural Australians who are doing it tough.

A judge found that immigration officials denied three-year-old Tharnicaa ‘procedural fairness’. But instead of bringing her home to Biloela, Peter Dutton is fighting this little Queenslander in the courts so he can force her family from Australia to danger.

My name is Angela and I’m from a QLD town called Biloela. In March 2018, Mr Dutton’s Border Force snatched my friends Priya and Nades and their QLD-born daughters, Tharnicaa and Kopika, from their Biloela home. Now, I urgently need your help to protect our Biloela family from Mr Dutton.

Isolated for two years

Tharnicaa and her family have endured over two years of isolation at the hands of Mr Dutton, first in a Melbourne detention centre and now on Christmas Island, 5,000km from their Biloela home.

Right now, Tharnicaa’s Mum Priya is alone in a Perth Hospital for medical tests ordered by her Christmas Island Hospital doctors. But officials stopped Priya’s loving husband and daughters from accompanying her.

Denied fairness

In Biloela, Nades worked hard at the local meatworks and paid his taxes. While Mr Dutton wastes millions of dollars detaining our Biloela family and fighting three-year-old Tharnicaa in the courts, we have crowd-funded every single dollar of this family’s legal costs.

In April, the Federal Court found that officials denied Tharnicaa ‘procedural fairness’ and Mr Dutton agreed to pay back our family's legal costs.

But instead of bringing Tharnicaa and her family home to Biloela, Mr Dutton is now appealing the judge’s decision. This means the agreed costs will not be paid, leaving our beautiful family with no funds to defend themselves.

No funds to defend themselves

Unless we find the funds to help our beautiful Biloela family continue seeking justice in the courts, Mr Dutton will force our two beautiful, QLD-born 'cockatoos' and their loving Mum and Dad from Australia to danger.

To me, $75,000 is a lot of money. But it’s nothing compared to the $27 million in taxpayers’ money Mr Dutton wasted on the Christmas Island detention centre in the first six weeks that our family was detained there alone. Please chip-in today.

QLD-born Tharni and Kopi turn four and six this year and they’ve spent three years in detention. It’s time for the PM to tell his Ministers to bring this family home to Biloela - will you help me send a message to Mr Morrison that can’t be ignored?

My name is Angela. When immigration guards snatched my friend Priya, her husband Nades and their girls from their Biloela home in March 2018, I never imagined our little QLD town would still be fighting to bring them home three years later.

Suddenly, they were gone

This family lived peacefully in Biloela for four years. Nades worked hard, providing for his young family. Priya joined church groups and took her curries up to the local hospital. 

When the guards came at dawn three years ago, Nades was getting ready for his job at the meatworks. Priya was warming a bottle for the baby. The girls were asleep in their beds. Suddenly, they were gone.

Trapped on Christmas Island

At first, Priya, Nades and the girls were sent to a Melbourne detention centre. But when a judge stopped officials from forcing this beautiful family from Australia to danger, the officials sent them to Christmas Island, 5,000km from their Biloela home.

Now, Tharni and Kopi are the only children left in immigration detention in the whole of Australia - and the only kids that guards escort to kindy and primary school.

Home with the stroke of a pen

In February, the Federal Court upheld it’s judgment that three-year-old Tharnicaa has been denied procedural fairness. But our politicians have always had the power to bring this family home to Biloela with the stroke of a pen.

In fact, new Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is the fourth politician to be handed the power to bring Priya, Nades and the girls home to Biloela.

A message the PM can’t ignore

A growing number of Australians of all beliefs and backgrounds - from broadcaster Alan Jones to former PM Tony Abbott - have asked the Immigration Minister to step in. But I believe Mr Hawke will only help this family with the blessing of the Prime Minister.

That’s why I’m asking you to chip in to put Kopi and Tharni’s story on billboards, banners and posters right across Australia and publish an open letter to the PM in the newspapers.

After three years, it's time for Mr Morrison to step in and bring this family home to Biloela, where they are loved and wanted.

When the guards stopped QLD-born Tharni’s mum taking her to hospital for nine days, a national outcry forced Scott Morrison’s Ministers to release her family from a Christmas Island detention centre. But with temporary visas expiring in a few weeks, our Biloela family is in more danger than ever.

My name is Angela. After three and half years, we’re so close to getting our friends Priya, Nades and their QLD-born girls, Kopi and Tharni, home to Bilo. But I urgently need your help to challenge Tharni’s continued detention and show local MPs that decent Australians won’t let politicians put this family in harm’s way.

Enough is enough

This beautiful family has been in my life since before four-year-old Tharni was born. In the three and a half years the politicians kept little Tharni and her sister Kopi in detention, our bond has only grown stronger. The girls call my husband and I ‘Auntie’ and ‘Uncle!’

It was devastating to see how sick Tharni got after the detention guards stopped mum Priya taking her bright, beautiful little girl to hospital for nine days.

I can’t bear to think what would’ve happened if the doctors at Christmas Island Hospital didn’t step in - or if Australians didn’t say ‘enough is enough’.

From Australia to danger?

After everything this family has been through, it’s sickening to know Scott Morrison’s Ministers are still trying to force these two little Queenslanders and their loving mum and dad to war-torn Sri Lanka, where Tamil people suffer terrible atrocities.

I won’t go into the shocking details, but I’ve heard Priya and Nades’ stories. I’ve seen the fear in their eyes when they speak of the horrors they escaped in Sri Lanka. And I know their greatest fear isn’t for themselves.

Priya and Nades are terrified for the future of their two QLD-born daughters. They’re scared that their bright, bubbly girls could be trapped or orphaned in a dangerous place they’ve never known - and so am I.

In good conscience

When Tharni was evacuated from Christmas Island, a huge public outcry forced six government MPs to break ranks and join the call to bring this family #hometobilo.

But with Scott Morrison’s Ministers choosing to keep little Tharni in "community detention" near Perth Airport, the guards could come and force this family from Australia to danger as soon as September 22. We can’t let this happen.

That’s why I’m asking you to chip in to help our family's legal team mount an urgent challenge to Tharni's continued detention. If there's enough, I'll also use your donations to help local people persuade their MPs to join with those speaking out in good conscience.

We must keep this family safe

If you’re one of the many people who previously chipped in for legal costs, thank you. You’ve helped keep Priya, Nades and the girls safe for more than three years.

If you helped us pay for 22 massive billboards all around Australia, thank you. We couldn’t have gotten this family off Christmas Island without you.

But as family friend Joe says in the beautiful song he wrote for Priya, Nades and the girls: “On this matter, our leaders will not respond to compassion or reason. They will only respond to the electorate.”

Please - can you chip in to help challenge Tharni’s detention and send a powerful message to the politicians now, before it’s too late?

UPDATE: We are so grateful to everyone who has chipped in to help replace the wages lost to Biloela's Nadesalingam family during 1200 days of unjust detention at the hands of the former government. We've well and truly exceeded our crowdfunding goal!

As mentioned below, at Priya and Nades' request, funds in excess of our goal will be shared between local causes that are important to the Nadesalingam family and campaigns to win freedom and safety for others at risk of being forced from Australia to danger.

Four years after guards snatched them from their Biloela home at dawn, Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa - the Nadesalingam family - are finally coming home to Bilo.

While we welcome the new government's decision to issue the entire family with bridging visas, we know this family won't be safe until they have permanency in Australia. But right now, we need to get this family back home to Biloela and back on their feet.

Can you please chip in to help make up for some of the wages lost when politicians denied Priya and Nades the right to work during 1200 days of unjust detention?

Freedom and independence

I know that Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni deserve so much more. $148,000 is nothing compared to the millions of dollars politicians wasted by locking this beautiful family away in detention for 1200 days.

But I also know that for Nades and Priya, freedom and independence are two sides of the same coin.

I remember how Nades volunteered with the local Vinnies and how hard he worked at the local meatworks. I know how he jumped at the chance to get back to work after his family were reunited in Perth after years of detention.

I remember the stories of Priya bringing her curries up to the local hospital to say ‘thank you’ to the local doctors and nurses.

And I know that throughout their family’s long ordeal, the plight of others enduring similar injustice and danger has weighed heavily on Nades and Priya’s minds.

“I want to help”

When I told Priya that her family was finally coming home to Biloela, she said:

“My prayer is that this government will make a change to the lives of every single refugee who comes here. All refugees are survivors. They need hope.

“I had the support of Nades and we had the support of the people of Bilo. But many others don’t have that support. So I want to help,” she said.

That’s why Priya and Nades have asked that once our aim of raising $148,000 towards lost wages is reached, any additional funds from this crowdfunder will be shared between local causes that are important to the Nadesalingam family and campaigns to win freedom and safety for others at risk of being forced from Australia to danger.

A phone call brought hope

When the guards first snatched Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni from their Biloela home, no-one knew where they'd been taken. We feared they’d been forced from Australia to Sri Lanka, where Tamil people face horrific torture and abuse.

Then, a phone call from the Tamil Refugee Council brought hope - Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni were still in Australia, in a Melbourne detention centre. That’s when our four year battle to bring this family safely home to Biloela began.

But I know that there are so many other people and families, just like Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni, whose stories have not been heard.

Let’s make Priya’s prayer come true

We will never forget the way that Tamil people came together with Biloela locals and people from across Australia, to bring Priya, Nades, Kopi and Tharni safely #HometoBilo.

I know we'll all keep coming together until Priya’s prayer comes true, and others facing similar danger and injustice at the hands of our politicians have their freedom and safety too.