Why was the Nadesalingam family allowed to return to Biloela?
What happened to the Nadesalingam family
Priya, Nades, Kopika, and Tharnicaa, known as the Nadesalingams or the ‘Biloela family’, rose to media attention when they were suddenly removed from their home in the central Queensland town of Biloela, taken to a detention centre in Melbourne, and almost deported twice. The family ended up being moved to Christmas Island, where medical concerns saw the family moved to community detention in Perth.
After the ALP win of the 2022 Australia federal election, the family were first granted bridging visas by then-Acting Minister for Home Affairs Jim Chalmers. This allowed them to leave community detention in Perth and return home to Biloela. Then in August 2022, the family were granted permanent visas. See their full timeline of events.
The Nadesalingam family in Perth
How the family were “given an exception”
The Minister for Home Affairs has a special power under the Migration Act 1958 called Ministerial Intervention which allows them to grant someone a more favourable outcome “if the Minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so.” This is meant for “unique or exceptional circumstances”, rather than an extension of the visa application review process.
This power is used often by the Minister, sometimes hundreds of times a year. It was revealed that in 2015, the then-Minister Peter Dutton used this power to grant visas for two au pairs - one Italian and one French, to which he had a personal connection to.
In the case of the Nadesalingam family, ministerial intervention was used both to give the family bridging visas so they could return to Biloela, and in giving them permanent visas to remain in Australia.
The moment the Nadesalingams arrived in Biloela to the warm reception from the community
What this could have meant for the Nadesalingam family
This power could have been used at any point in the family’s 3+ years in detention to allow them to return home to Biloela. The family didn’t need to be detained and cost us millions of dollars in the process - bridging visas (or permanent visas) could have been granted at any time, meaning the family could live and work in Biloela and contribute to the community as they had been doing.
Instead, the family were detained in Melbourne, then in a facility on Christmas Island was reopened specifically for them, costing almost $30 million in doing so and housing the family for just their first couple of months.
