Episode 5: The Ballad of the Ballots
Everything is riding on the 2022 federal election. The LNP have held firm that the Nadesalingams would not be returning to Biloela, and no special visa would be granted to them, but the Labor Party has made an election promise to return them to Biloela if they are elected. How did this one family become an election talking point in 2022?
We find out if four years of campaigning to bring this family back to Biloela is actually changing the way people vote. And we join the campaign team as they make a final push to get people to preference Labor over LNP for this one family.
Media
Election Day Nerves!
Let’s Party!
Resources
Key Resources
Get a quick run down of The Tampa Affair here.
Words create worlds. See how.
What’s up with Scomo and the election day boat arrivals?
Other References
Migration
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-vietnamese-refugees-who-changed-white-australia/fo8fls6hj
https://www.academia.edu/38800220/Chronology_of_UNAUTHORISED_MARITIME_ARRIVALS_The_Boat_People
Tampa
https://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201107/programs/DO0848H001D2011-07-07T203300.htm?program=Leaky%20Boat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ccKArhv28U&t=1031s&ab_channel=liberalcynic
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/tampa-affair
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2019/opinion/issues-that-swung-elections
https://theconversation.com/2001-polls-in-review-september-11-influenced-election-outcome-far-more-than-tampa-incident-112139
https://www.smh.com.au/national/rotten-corpse-of-an-election-20011109-gdf9ot.html
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/maritimeincident/report/c03
https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/02/09/ruddocks-record-on-rights-makes-a-joke-of-his-retirement-gig/
https://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201107/programs/DO0848H001D2011-07-07T203300.htm?program=Leaky%20Boat
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3144082/message-to-the-force-one-year-since-the-conclusion-of-the-afghanistan-war/#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20went%20to,them%20safe%20haven%20in%20Afghanistan
Election Day 2022
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/22/labor-victory-means-murugappan-family-set-to-return-home-to-biloela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIIiPFAmKt0&ab_channel=ABCNews%28Australia%29
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/asylum-seeker-boat-stopped-off-christmas-island-as-morrison-trumpets-border-security-on-election-day-20220521-p5anb1.html
https://twitter.com/peterdutton_mp/status/1527851233809031168?lang=en
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fsri-lanka-intercepts-asylumseeker-boat-on-eve-of-federal-election%2Fnews-story%2F14a8cafd754076951212b449f3fdbd82&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-groupa-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append
https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/albos-government-to-investigate-mass-election-day-text-on-asylum-seeker-boat-arrival/news-story/2e498775e8d53d08fde9ed2149029c02
https://www.abf.gov.au/newsroom-subsite/Pages/illegal-maritime-venture-intercepted.aspx
Transcript
Jay
It’s a week before the 2022 federal election. Thinesh and I are chowing down on some of Burger King’s seasonal menu items at Sydney airport.
Thinesh
I expect pork belly to have a lot of crunch.
Jay
It’s not bad, but it doesn’t give me the excitement that pork belly should.
Thinesh
In the lead up to the election the Nadesalingam family have been a talking point for both major parties.
Anthony Albanese
Its not a threat to Australia’s Borders
Peter Dutton
We have to make sure that people abide by the umpire’s decision here.
Jay
And the community campaigners have been working tirelessly to get people to vote for the party that has promised to bring the family home to Biloela.
News Reporting
A social media campaign, to protect them.
Angela Fredericks
We have schools that are ready to welcome those two little girls, so our whole town just wants this nightmare to be over.
Thinesh
So, we want to see if this family has actually made an impact on the way people vote, right in the town where the community campaign began.
Jay
So, um, how’re you feeling about this trip?
Thinesh
Um, I’m excited, the lightning rod of conversation Bilo has become. In Australia, I don’t think Bilo would have crossed a lot of people’s radars. So, the fact that Tamil people or a particular Tamil family has put it on the political map of conversation is interesting.
Jay
I just hope that we don’t stand out too much. I mean, it sounds like they have a history of multiculturalism, but you never know. It’s like a rural country town. We could definitely. Stick out.
Thinesh
Yeah, I mean, if there’s only five thousand people there, people will immediately see us and know we’re not from there.
Jay
Two flights later, and we’ve arrived at the Queensland port city of Gladstone, just over an hour’s drive from Biloela.
Jay
So, you’ve got to get on that road over there.
Thinesh
That road?
Jay
Alright, straight at the round-about.
Thinesh
To Biloela!
Jay
Oh my god, just follow the signs.
Thinesh
I feel like this is the most rural part of Australia that I’ve been to thus far. Its twilight right now and I just see lots of green trees.
Jay
We’ve been driving for like 3 minutes, and literally all we can see now are hills are trees and fields.
Thinesh
So, we’re driving right now, 100km inland, is that correct?
This is so beautiful; I really just want to go for a run.
Jay
There’s no like trail though, you’d just be running on the side of the road.
Thinesh
That’s fine.
Jay
Do you want to drop me off?
Thinesh
Alright
Jay
I’ll sort this out.
Thinesh
See you in a sec.
Jay
Got a booking under surname OOI.
Motel Staff
I have yes! How do you normally pronounce that?
Jay
Ooi!
Motel Staff
That’s cute!
Is that Japanese?
Jay
Its Hokkien, which is a dialect of Chinese.
Thinesh
Here in Australia, especially for us city folk, there’s this view that rural Queenslander’s are these staunch conservatives.
Jay
Yeah, they’re a safe Liberal National Party area, they’re stuck in their ways, and you can’t change them. And there’s also this view that rural Queensland is full of rednecks.
Thinesh
Yeah, they don’t want people like you and me in this country Jay. Plus, I think a lot of Australians are just exhausted and confused by politics. They don’t think their vote matters, but…
Titles
You Have Been Told a Lie. To stop the deportation of a Tamil family. Let them in, let them stay. Protecting Australia’s borders, hypocrisy. Detained on Christmas Island. The United Nations Convention on Refugee’s. This is our Country. We are a generous open-hearted people.
Thinesh
I’m Thinesh Thillainadarajah.
Jay
I’m Jay Ooi.
Thinesh
This is episode 5, the Ballad of the Ballots.
Thinesh
It’s less than a week until the 2022 federal election. Priya, Nades, Kopika, and Tharnicaa are still in Perth, all because the government refuses to give Tharnicaa the same bridging visa the other three in the family are on.
Jay
And so, they’re stuck in community detention.
Thinesh
And we spoke to them when we arrived in Biloela.
Priya
When you said you were in Biloela, it stirred up a lot of emotions. You’ve been able to see Biloela, and we haven't. But I will definitely return.
There’s nothing there! If someone had come from Sydney to visit, they wouldn’t choose to live there. They would be bored. But if they actually lived there, they would see the love and peace, and people are friendly. Life would be very good. Wherever I am, I’m always thinking about being in Biloela. I want my kids to grow up in Biloela. Everyone there is kind, loving, honest, and has good morals. I want this to be an example for our Kids.
Jay
Now I know I was a little nervous about coming to Biloela, like two ethnic queers from the big smoke in a rural/regional Queensland town, how were you feeling?
Thinesh
Look, I knew that the space we were going to was strongly supportive of Pauline Hansen and her kind of politics.
She makes my skin crawl but as a response I’ve increased my uptake of halal snack packs as a response. She portrays me and people who look like us as something to be feared, and now we’re going into a community that seems to support those kinds of politics, which made me think we’d get some casual racism yelled at us from a moving car.
Jay
Which is something you’ve experienced before.
Thinesh
Exactly.
Jay
But we had spoken to the campaign team quite a bit before arriving, and we definitely got the sense that they weren’t these racist, socially conservative people we thought lived here.
Thinesh
Yeah, I mean they were literally campaigning for a brown asylum seeker family to be allowed to stay in the country. So, what made these people so different from others around them?
Jay
And what better way to get to know them and the area, than at a family dinner with Bronwyn and Matt Dendle.
Bronwyn Dendle
Come on in, you can actually leave your shoes on please.
Thinesh
Sounds like she does not give a shit about your podcast, Shoes Off!
Jay
Excuse me!
Bronwyn Dendle
We’ve just always had fairly simple I’m not much of a…
Thinesh
Bronwyn is involved in a lot of community initiatives so is usually flat off her feet, but she’s been particularly busy leading up to the election, campaigning for labour so that the family can come home.
Harry Dendle
Mum has a lot of jobs, and then like I tell her what you did at work, and then she’s like I went this place I went this place, home to Bilo meeting, went this place, this place…
Jay
It’s a lot.
Bronwyn Dendle
Yeah, and we’ve been through different phases where you sort of thing I wanna wind back, cause I wanna have some more relax time with the family. But then you kind of look at, well I’m doing this for the family for my kids. Because its important for community, it is a tricky balance.
People don’t want to get political. It sort of seems like, oh that’s lovely, but I don’t want to get involved. It’s not my business. I’ve always voted for this particular thing. If I listened to the internal chatter of “Oh I don’t want to offend or whatever” that would probably cause me more harm.
But I openly kind of still go extrovert out, I don’t know if that makes sense, but I still have the conversations and bubble about it.
Jay
We also spoke to Bronwyn’s kids about how they’re feeling about the election.
Sam Dendle
No one in my class, or like my cohort is as vocal as me. I feel like towards all that and then I said something about labour, and they were like, “Are you being serious?”. Yeah, pretty serious.
Jay
Is it that any support of Labor is seen as a joke?
Sam Dendle
Yeah, well, Bilo’s such a town where everyone just follows their parents, and their parents are voting for Liberal…
Bronwyn Dendle
You’ve spoken with Scott Morrisons office and left a message on his voicemail.
Harry Dendle
I hope he picked it up.
It was after, mum showed me a video of them like getting on the plane…
Jay
Harry’s talking about that time where the family are almost deported from Melbourne, which then ended them up on Christmas Island.
Harry Dendle
Like, them getting, like chucked on the plane and not like staying with the mum and dad and separating them on the seats.
Bronwyn Dendle
He got a bit upset, so I said well we’re doing what we can and talking to the boss of the country. He said I want to talk to him.
Harry Dendle
I want to be it [The Boss].
Jay
What was the message?
Harry Dendle
I remember exactly saying this sentence please let my friends stay in Biloela, I remember saying friends stay home in Biloela.
Bronwyn Dendle
Do you think I have a different voice when I do interviews?
Kids
Yes, and definitely on calls as well.
Bronwyn Dendle
What does it sound like?
Kids
Its like “Oh yeah, yeah.” She has to respond like …
Bronwyn Dendle
What about when I’m talking to you guys?
Kids
It’s No!
Jay
And this Dendle family dinner preps us well for the politics of Biloela that we’re about to encounter.
Jay
Lovely to meet you all. You guys are awesome.
Harry Dendle
I had a great time talking.
Jay
Yeah, yeah, us too! Thank you!
Jay
What’s interesting is that the injustice of what’s happened to the Nadesalingam’s is so obvious to someone like Harry, as are the solutions. So, what happened? Why aren’t these solutions being done?
Thinesh
Politicians talking about asylum seekers I don’t think surprises anyone these days. It’s always national security this, or boats sinking that. But I can’t imagine it’s always been such a big political talking point, especially around election time.
Jay
Correct you are. Let’s just take a look at the way we talked about the large influx of Vietnamese refugees in the 70’s and 80’s. Even though public opinion was still a bit concerned about the intake, the way the Fraser government handled it then was very different.
So instead of turning it into a media frenzy and a national security issue, the then government tries to tackle those same issue away from the front pages.
Thinesh
So, Jay, as someone who grew up in Australia, when did this all change?
Jay
Wow, it’s like the one time I know more about a topic than you. Okay, I think the one word that everyone will remember is Tampa.
News Reporting
Tampa. Tampa. The Norwegian Freighter. The Tampa. The Tampa was the beginning of the turning point.
Jay
Thinesh what did you know about Tampa before working on this podcast?
Thinesh
Honestly, not very much, just that it was a pivotal moment in the way we process asylum seekers, like Priya and Nades, here in Australia. I mean I know it’s not the first asylum seeker boat to come to Australia.
Jay
No, far from it. We’ve had many prior to Tampa. But, like okay, let me give you the crash course. It’s the 26 August 2001, and a distress call is put out for a small fishing boat that’s been stricken near Christmas Island. It’s got 433 asylum seekers on it, mostly Hazaras fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan. A Norwegian container ship answers the call for rescue and brings everyone on board, which they kind of have to do in this situation.
The asylum seekers plead the ship to take them to Christmas Island, but the government authorities radioed, and tells this ship they cannot land in Australia. And a standoff ensues.
Robyn
… and I said, "Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. The government will let them in.”
Jay
This is Robyn from the previous episode, a long-time resident of Christmas Island. Now keep in mind you’ve got some very sick people on board, we’re talking eyes rolling into their heads, some unconscious. But they’re told they can’t land.
News Reporting
Day 5 of the Tampa crisis has seen no softening of John Howards resolve. We will not allow these people to land in Australia.
Jay
So, the captain of the Tampa had had enough, he decided to make his way to Christmas Island. As he nears it, what looks like help arrives, but instead of medicine and supplies, here boards 45 SAS troops.
Robyn
And then we had helicopters arriving. We had armoured tanks. We had on our recreational swimming area; we had guards with machine guns.
Thinesh
So, you’ve got this huge show of force and power, almost like an intimidation tactic.
Jay
Yeah, within a matter of hours of the incident, the Howard led LNP government has proposed a bill to allow boat-arriving asylum seekers to be transferred to offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island. It’s called the Pacific Solution.
Thinesh
And how does the bill go?
Jay
Well, the opposition government, the labour party, initially opposes it, and their position in the polls collapses overnight. The bill is passed the next month. The craziest part is that we didn’t even have an agreement with Nauru when we started shipping the Tampa asylum seekers there to be processed.
Thinesh
That is wild. Sounds like a rush job.
Jay
Kind of, right? But just as Labour fell in the polls as they opposed offshore processing then, Howard’s approval rankings rose 10 points in the week of Tampa.
Robyn
But I think the only reason that Tampa was so huge was because of the Twin Towers and everything else that coincided.
Thinesh
Right, 9/11 and the war on terror, of course that has something to do with asylum seekers coming to Australia.
Jay
Thinesh
I guess with this terrorism fear, we became really concerned with Afghan refugees coming, in case they might be terrorists.
Jay
You said it, and so did our then Prime Minister.
John Howard
Jay
Weeks after 9/11, Howard’s polls continue to climb, and he calls the election. Now leading up to this election, another boat incident happens. Suspected Irregular Entry Vessel number 4, or SIEV 4 for short. This is another boat that refuses to turn back when confronted by Navy ship HMAS Adelaide.
So, HMAS Adelaide fired 23 rounds as a warning in the water ahead of SIEV 4. Now Thinesh, if you were in a leaky boat, and there was a nice big boat near you who appeared to start shooting at your boat, what would you do?
Thinesh
So, you have these vulnerable people being shot at by guns? What the fuck.
Jay
Yep, and 12 people did decide to throw themselves overboard. But one person decided to lift his child up to show them that they had children on board.
Thinesh
And this is that famous, oh they’re throwing their children overboard issue.
Jay
Exactly. Then immigration minister Philip Ruddock along with John Howard both stated that…
Phillip Ruddock
A number of children have been thrown overboard, clearly planned and premeditated.
John Howard
I don’t want people in Australia who would throw their children into the sea.
Thinesh
Which totally fits this post 9/11 narrative of “these are not the sort of people we want in this country”.
Jay
Exactly. Now prior to SIEV 4, prior to Tampa, the Liberal National Party were not looking like they were going to win the next election. Post Tampa and 9/11, they win with an even bigger majority.
John Howard
“But we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come!”
Jay
And this is the turning point. This is when having a hard stance on asylum seekers becomes an election winning tool, like so many politicians have used this hard border as something that appeals to the Australian public since.
Just 8 days prior to Tampa, you have Howard saying “we don’t turn people back at sea, we can’t behave in that manner.” Post Tampa, post 9/11, post SIEV 4, it’s…
News reporting
This is our country, and we determine who comes here.
We are intending to take a fairly tough approach. A tough approach, this is tough policy.
Firstly, you’ve got to stop the boats. Over 50,000 people have turned up. Around 15,000 of those Labor had given permanent visas to already.
People who come illegally by boat will not be granted permanent residency.
Border protection is one political issue with currency. Whats new is my determination to relentlessly pursue it.
Jay
And the even crazier part is, it’s all been incredibly deliberate.
Thinesh
What do you mean?
Jay
Well for SIEV 4, the then Deputy PM was told soon after the images were published that it’s actually not children being thrown overboard. The message got through, but they decided to keep saying that children were thrown overboard. A Senate inquiry in the incident found that no children were thrown overboard from SIEV 4.
Ben Doherty
Since 2001, since Tampa, since children overboard, the language that people have used around asylum seeking in Australia has changed quite dramatically and quite deliberately.
Jay
This is Ben Doherty, a journalist for The Guardian who has been covering forced migration for over a decade.
Ben Doherty
This is not a kind of natural evolution. This has been a deliberate construction, this language, and it's actually been really fundamental in changing people's understanding of what we're talking about. And there are some really obvious examples.
We don't have asylum seekers arriving in Australia. We have illegals. We don't have an immigration department; we have a border force. All of this militarized securitized language, the issue of asylum seeking, being framed as an issue of national security, it's talked in terms of border protection. All of these terms are very powerful in shaping people's understandings of what we are talking about.
Jay
In fact, back in 2013 it was confirmed that Scott Morrison directed customs officials to describe asylum seekers arriving by boat as “illegal”.
Ben Doherty
You know, words make worlds. And in a way, the language we use around people seeking asylum and around the act of asylum seeking defines our understanding of it, but also government's response to it.
If you have illegals coming to your country, then your obligation is to detain them, is to lock them up. And so, all of a sudden, policies like indefinite detention of asylum seekers and offshore processing, these are made possible by the language you use.
Jay
This narrative of asylum seekers being dangerous was a lie that was deliberately being told.
Thinesh
And when it comes to the Nadesalingam family, it’s been a huge talking point in the most recent election. You have the very hard stance of Scott Morrison’s government, against letting Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa stay,
Yet you have the Labor government promising they’ll be allowed to return to Biloela even though they still say they’re tough on borders.
Anthony Albanese
We have the same position on offshore processing, on settlement in third countries, and the same position on boat turnback’s.
Jay
So, with the amount of attention the Nadesalingam family have gotten, have people become more sympathetic towards them? And with Labour’s promise, if they’re elected, to bring the family back to Biloela, has this actually changed the way people vote? Is this one of those singular issues that’s big enough to sway voters?
Thinesh
Um this rain, and this gloomy weather is very foreboding.
Jay
It’s the day of the 2022 federal election. At the polling booth there are campaigners for Labour, the Liberal National Party, the United Australia Party, and The Greens. The Home to Bilo campaign team have put up some last-minute posters overnight with photos of the Nadesalingam family. They say “Put LNP last to keep them safe and bring them home to Bilo”.
Thinesh
They don’t say “vote for labour” because they know that’s a much harder sell in what has traditionally been a conservative electorate. But maybe if they can convince people to preference Labour over the Liberal National Party, maybe the family will be able to return home.
Jay
Yeah, they know a lot of people might vote One Nation or the United Australia Party first, but if they vote as per the party lines, those parties both preference LNP over Labour.
Thinesh
Wait, backtrack, can you explain preferential voting for your favourite corgi Tabasco?
Jay
Anything for Tabasco! Okay so, instead of just voting for like one person or party at each election. You can list them in your order of preference, so your vote will first go to whoever you put as your first preference. What happens, is whichever party has the least number of first preferences they look at those people’s ballots and they look at what their second preference is, and their votes then flow into whatever that vote is. This keeps happening until one party has a majority of votes.
Angela Fredericks
I almost got into a fight with UAP, the, you guys have preferenced LNP over labour, so you don’t support us. No, we haven’t! Look at the how to vote card you’re holding. And that’s the worry in this electorate, I feel like there’s going to be a big swing away from LNP and it’s all going back to UAP, which then goes straight back to Liberals.
Nic Dorward
I went to bed in an absolute spiral about UAP preferences, and I can’t get that out of my mind that we’re in for the same shock we had in 2019.
Thinesh
This is campaign hottie Nic Dorward who you heard from in the previous episode. Nic’s also in Biloela for the election, braving the rain like the rest of us.
Thinesh
Are you able to walk us through what happened last time?
Nic Dorward
…All were expecting Shorten was going to win, and seat by seat you could just see the media commentators realising it wasn’t going to go that way, and it was like realising your balloon was full of lead, was how I described it, and you kind of go from holding this joyous buoyant thing to realising it was weighing you down, and I just remember from that night, feeling the most acute sense of despair…
When in the middle of the whole political change issue, I just realised it meant the family were not going to be free., and that was probably the most heartbreaking part of the night.
Simone Cameron
I think we're trying to very hard this time to be more careful than we were in 2019.
Jay
This is Simone again from the community campaign, who is also in town from Brisbane for the election.
Simone Cameron
All of us let our heads get away with themselves a bit. Like, we’ve done it all, we’ve gone through it all before. So, we’ll do it again, if we have to. Hope we don't have to.
Jay
Now the voting centre in Biloela is on the main strip of town next to the Top Pub.
Thinesh
Aye
Jay
Yes T… You’ve got a couple of cafes opposite it, the local Thai restaurant, and a Betta Home and Living store.
Jay
So, the voting centre hasn’t yet opened, we’ve got a few people lined up ready to vote”.
Hey there, just asking people anonymous questions about why they’re voting the way they have a selection. Would you guys be chat?
Community Member
Nah mate… Don’t get into politics.
Jay
Hi, there. How are you going? I'm just asking you a few anonymous questions about why people are voting the way they are this election.
Community Member
No thank you.
Jay
Hey there, just asking a few anonymous questions about the election.
Community Member
All good thank you.
Jay
We got a few rejections, didn’t we?
Jay
But I think also when people walk out and see us, like we’re clearly not from here, they’re like, these guys have an agenda, what is it?
Jay
Maybe it looked like we had an ethnic agenda?
Jay
Can you come get me with your umbrella?
Thinesh
I can because I’m a nice person. Unlike you jay
Jay
Excuse me!
Jay
It’s a brown person everyone!
Thinesh
Come on my little Asian prince.
Thinesh
At this point, the media, and as a result, the rest of us, had often mistakenly referred to the family as the Murugappan family. That’s Nades’s surname. But in Tamil culture, the family name is often the male partners.
Jay
We just asking a few anonymous questions on why people are voting the way they are this election in Biloela it's completely anonymous. Um, do you, are you happy to chat? It'd be like two minutes.
What are the most important issues for you this election jobs, health care, childcare aged care Murugappan family?
Community Member #1
Medicare is one. And manufacturing.
Community Member #2
Mainly, for me, it was our freedoms, the Home to Bilo. We went the family home. I want a federal ICAC, these guys need to be held accountable.
Community Member #2
I don't agree with all the mandates and stuff that were put in with the vaccine and COVID.
Community Member #4
Decentralising Australia is a big thing for me.
Community Member #5
We’ve got our Power Station here. Coal fired. The worlds transitioning away from Coal. Whats going to happen to our little community?
Community Member #6
Like how do we get a region like this to keep functioning when coal starts to not be as big a driver of our economy.
Community Member #7
We've got the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, but we want to change out the government that's given us that just doesn't make any sense to me.
Jay
I’m definitely going to sound kind of ignorant here, but I genuinely had no idea about this fear around people’s livelihoods. Like the region that Biloela is in, it’s a region where a lot of people earn good money from working in the mines, particularly coal mines, and there’s this fear of “how am I going to provide for my family” if we as a country turn to renewable energy.
Thinesh
But there’s also this view that the Labour party is sort of in bed with the Greens, and that the Greens only care about climate change and don’t care about all these people who will essentially be out of jobs, or at least out of jobs within a similar earning bracket.
Jay
And so, when you combine all of these things, there’s this very real fear of having a Labour government in power, not because they don’t care about pensions or Medicare or parental leave, but because they’re afraid of like literally not being able to put food on the table.
Thinesh
What did you think of that?
Jay
Sort of what I expected, I guess?
Thinesh
I just find it interesting that people weren’t even willing to walk under the Labor tent to get to the polling booth.
Jay
Everyone was polite. Just, don’t wanna talk.
Jay
Interestingly Thinesh, only two random people we approached mentioned the Nadesalingam family, one was a labour voter, and the other quickly followed it up by talking about freedoms and vaccine mandates.
Thinesh
So…probably a UAP voter whose vote is probably going to go to LNP anyways.
Jay
So, we decided to ask the people in Biloela point blank about their thoughts on the family.
Jay
… and so, we know that like the Priya, Nades and the Morrigan family has been like, kind of important this election for both parties and both major parties. Do you know this family?
Community Member #8
Yeah, no, I don't Follow it.
Jay
Do you have any? No, no thoughts on them?
Community Member #8
Not really.
Jay
Do you know about the Murugappan family?
Community Member #9
I sure do
Jay
Do you think they should be let back?
Community Member #9
I absolutely think they should be let back in. Very important yeah. I think enough is enough.
Community Member #10
The amount of wasted money they’ve put on this, 50mil of wasted money to try and just make a political statement, and these people aren’t criminals, they’ve done the right thing, they work and live in the community.
Community Member #11
Father used to work at the meatworks, mother was cooking curry for the hospital. You know, kids were in school. They were integrated in the community. Didn’t rub anyone the wrong way.
Thinesh
Jayby, can we just pause and discuss this particular view, which is fairly common, even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this on the 7:30 Report in 2019.
We have two Australians, in terms of the kids aged four and two who were born here but we also have Nades who worked at the local meat works in Biloela, we have Priya who volunteered at St Vincent de Paul. This family were integrated in with the community of Biloela. they have very strongly advocated for them to be able to stay here.
Jay
Right, so this view that this family was contributing, and they were good people, and they didn’t stir the pot. Dumb question, but that’s all-true right? So, what’s the problem here?
Thinesh
The problem is, the family’s claims for protection have been largely denied because of our flawed system, and misinformation, in those country information reports, and so now they really have to be these sorts of upstanding citizens in order to gain the sympathy of Australians.
Jay
And in a sense, they really need the public sympathy to have a better chance at ministerial intervention, because the criteria for that is that the Minister has to believe it’s in the public interest to grant this family a visa.
Thinesh
But the thing is, the family shouldn’t need to be contributing members in order to gain our sympathy, we should care for people in vulnerable situations, without them having to be perfect humans. But as Australians, we don’t.
Jay
But with both major parties talking about this family, people have strong views both ways.
Jay
And when it comes to Priya and Nades family, bring them home, obviously both parties are talked about that. Is that important to you?
Community Member #12
That's a crock of shit. They should, they should have been kicked out years ago. So that's not important to me.
Jay
Yeah. What why is that?
Community Member #12
Because if we let those guys in and it opens up the floodgates for everybody. By letting those guys in then you're letting everyone else in. There's a proper way to come into Australia and that's the improper way to come into Australia.
Thinesh
Ouch. That hurt a little. I feel like I could also see you die a little inside when he said that.
Jay
Didn’t I hide it well? I thought I was being professional.
Thinesh
I mean… I think we were probably scared for our lives to be honest. He’s gonna beat the shit out of us.
Jay
*Laughs
Community Member #13
But I guess you got to look at the big picture. And the big picture is, you've got to do what the law says. Like it or not, if you change that, well, as much as I would love them to be here, no matter what, you know, we all agree with that. But as a rule of law, and unfortunately, that's how a normal society runs, unfortunately.
Community Member #14
I reckon they're good people why not should they be here?
Jay
Is that enough to sway your vote?
Community Member #14
Ah, not really? Not really, but you know.
Jay
Now, whilst a lot of people had sympathy for the Nadesalingams. No one mentioned, they’d changed their vote because of this family.
Thinesh
But the campaign team have been standing in the rain all day talking to voters. Have they managed to convince anyone?
Angela Fredericks
Can I add to your pile? You’re right? Know where you’re going?
Thinesh
Any hearts and minds changed?
Angela Fredericks
Um, I don’t think just yet. I think they’re so self-assured and confident that this is LNP territory, they don’t need to talk to anyone.
Jay
Thinesh, I half expected with how big the campaign had been and Biloela being the town the family were from that we would have bumped into somebody who had changed the way they voted because of the family. So, it was pretty disheartening not to speak to anybody who had.
Thinesh
Well, that’s not quite true... Remember when we bumped into Bronwyn’s mum?
Jay
Yeah, but does she count...? She’s literally a family member of the main campaigners.
Thinesh
Rude of course she counts. She’s from the area, and she’s traditionally a conservative voter. But in this election not only did she vote for Labor. She’s actually campaigning for them.
Bronwyn’s Mum
And I said Well if you always vote? But I really educated myself this time, and really listened to Q and A and opened my mind a bit and the Family I guess, that precipitated my education.
Thinesh
So, like having regard to your journey What do you think would be helpful for other people to be more open minded?
Bronwyn’s Mum
Yeah, I think they need to listen to all sides, I think, and be more informed, about, yeah there’s so much we don’t know. It’s all the injustice of it all. Why does it have to be? And we’re a big country we can bring more people in. Goodness.
Thinesh
And it wasn’t just Bronwyn’s mum, but dad as well.
Bronwyn Dendle
And, um, funny thing my dad came down today, because he’s staunch one nation. And I gave him a heads up before I came, I sent him a text I’m handing out how to votes at Monto today I don't mind if you pretend to don't know me blah blah blah and then he walks in.
And I said oh come on dad, you have to take the red one just to pretend he's like nah, I'm gonna take this one. He said he's come out now and said he's never gonna let him home. He said, no bastard can be that cruel. So, he took the Labor how to vote one in
Jay
Yay Dad!
Thinesh
That's so exciting.
Bronwyn Dendle
So, then I messaged my siblings. And I'm like, I don't I don't know what's going on dad. But he just took a Labor how to vote. And he reckons he's gonna vote for them based on returning, you know, the little Bilo family.
So, does anyone know? is dad unwell? Has he got months to live? What should we do here? Yes.
Thinesh
I mean a lot of strange things are happening today, so…
Bronwyn Dendle
Yeah, but if someone can swing, One Nation, swing that far anything is possible.
Thinesh
And it’s not just Bronwyn’s parents, but it was also Bronwyn herself.
Angela Fredericks
I did see you were called a greenie.
Bronwyn Dendle
I should have said “except for the time I was a member of the young liberals”.
Thinesh
And Angela, and others from the campaign. In fact, they know that multiple people have changed their votes because of the family.
Angela Fredericks
I know the last election alone, there were a multitude of people who for the first time in their life didn't vote for the Nationals, and that was going against family tradition of what you vote for. Again, coming up to this election, I've had so many people just randomly tell me, first time ever I'm going to vote for Labor purely because for Priya and Nades, so it definitely is a political issue that's on people's minds.
Jay
That’s actually pretty incredible, that this one campaign for this one family has managed to sway people who have only voted one way their entire lives. And although we can’t say it was definitely this campaign that changed a lot of votes in the region, we did see a 4.8% swing towards the Labour Party in the Flynn electorate which Biloela and Monto are a part of.
Thinesh
It’s about 3pm on the day of the election. We’re with Bronwyn at Monto which is an hour from Biloela, and we’ve just gotten word that another boat from Sri Lanka bound for Australia has been intercepted by Australian border forces. Now the LNP won’t stop talking about it.
Bronwyn Dendle
Oh, here we go… Angela's found this on Peter Dutton’s page. 48:10 people smugglers have obviously decided who is going to win the election and the boats have already started; don't risk our national security with Labor.
So, like, what the actual? Yeah, there is no, there is no coincidence in the universe that could be so strong that a boat from Sri Lanka, after we've been talking about the Sri Lankan family as an actual key election point, coincidentally, a boat from Sri Lanka turns up on cue on election day. What are the odds of that?
Jay
Yes, T, what are the odds of that?
Thinesh
Well funny you ask, because The Saturday Paper’s chief political correspondent Karen Middleton actually got a tip about this week earlier.
Karen Middleton
Going back to April, I just received an unsolicited message from somebody that I didn't know in the Sri Lankan community in Australia telling me this, that there was the suggestion that a couple of boats had left Sri Lanka, that they were timed to arrive just before our federal election, that somebody... And I had a conversation with this person subsequently, and I decided that they seemed sounded credible. I did look into their background and who they were and where they were from and their connections and the like.
And then when I had this conversation with this person, the more information arrived which was through that, which was that they had a friend who had been present when one of the boats were being loaded with passengers and had said that Sri Lanka police were present when this was occurring and were not stopping it happening. In fact, the implication was they were allegedly facilitating this, and that the boats were supposed to leave in order to reach Australia in time for our federal election.
And it was described to me, quote unquote as, "An election stunt."
Now, this was unverified information, and I did my best over a number of weeks, both trying to make inquiries in Sri Lanka and in Australia to find out if I could find anything that would indicate this was correct, and I couldn't.
Jay
So, she received an unverified tip a month before the election that two boats were on their way as an election stunt, and that the Sri Lankan police were in cahoots?
Thinesh
Correct. Now the day before the election, a story ran in The Australian about a different fishing boat carrying asylum seekers being intercepted near Sri Lanka. Which is weird enough already.
Karen Middleton
The government is notoriously reluctant to speak about the interception of boats. They always have told us, particularly the coalition government under Scott Morrison as immigration minister and then certainly under him as prime minister, that these are "on-water matters”, and we are not allowed to ask about them.
So, it was passing strange that he was allowing his minister to speak so publicly on the front page of the Australian about this intercept, and an interesting coincidence that it was occurring on election day and then it transpired through the day, the situation got even stranger when it turned out there was a boat intercepted in Australian borders off Australia.
Jay
Right the one that conveniently arrived on election day?
Thinesh
Yes, and this is the one that Bronwyn was talking about, the one Peter Dutton tweeted about.
Karen Middleton
And of course, logic would tell you that it's more likely than not that it's a coincidence. But it was a big coincidence, and it was a very useful coincidence for the government of the day, which has historically seen the issue of asylum seekers and border protection as being one that works well for it politically. And it was behind in the opinion polls, it was needing something to give it a lift on the day people were going to vote and this issue was clearly being used in that manner.
And the government then not only allowed that to be known but pushed that message and there were text messages sent out by the Liberal Party. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, spoke about it. They were attempting to get journalists to ask them about it. It was clear that they saw this as some kind of politically advantageous issue to be out in the public domain on the day that people were going to vote.
Jay
I’ve got the text message here. It says “BREAKING – Australian Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Australia. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today. https://vote.liberal.org.au.”
And look, whether it was set up or not, our border force never release press statements on boats being turned back, like I went back through the past three years of press releases, none on boat turn backs But suddenly on election day, press release, boat intercepted.
Thinesh
This is so fucking weird that Home Affairs later led an inquiry about this incident.
Bronwyn Dendle
Yeah, you would like to think that surely you would say what an amazing coincidence. But both governments as much as it's a shit thing, both governments have said, they're turning boats around. It just makes me so mad that they go to that extreme. Yeah. Whatever it is to retain power.
Thinesh
And we've been talking about how I guess both parties are using the Murugappan family as political pawns. And now it’ extending to another boat load of people just being used. Yeah, it's a very,
Bronwyn Dendle
Yeah. On cue case on point for them. Yeah.
Thinesh
It's horrendous.
Jay
So, you’ve got this fear tactic being used by the LNP, but the home to Bilo team campaigning so hard to bring the family home. So, is that going to be enough? Will the family come home to Biloela?
Jay
Testing, testing.
Thinesh
It’s election night. The campaign team and their friends have gathered at Angela’s parents’ place to watch the votes roll in live. Now we all know who won this election, but for this team, their campaign all comes down to this one night.
Jay
Over 1000 days of campaigning. The responsibility to keep saying “you’ll come home” despite a government showing no signs of compassion. And What this symbolises for tens of thousands of other asylum seekers in Australia. A lot is riding on this election.
Priya
The whole day, feeling very tension about this. The time I call my community friends, Biloela team, Priya is hope you are strong and relaxed. Kopika is red colour, I go back to Bilo.
Thinesh
Imagine an 8-year-old needing to be invested in an election, knowing that’s the way she’s going to go home.
Jay
The early vote counts put LNP far ahead of labour. Nerves are understandably high.
Thinesh
Especially with LNP’s shock win of the 2019 election still fresh in people’s minds.
Jay
So, we checked in with how the campaign team are feeling, starting with Vashini.
Jay
It’s quarter past six.
Vashini Riswan
Yeah, it's already on the TV.
Jay
How are you feeling?
Vashini Riswan
Don’t ask me!
Jay
Simone, pulse check how you feeling?
Simone Cameron
I think I'm better now that people have arrived. But Vashini has seen me for the last hour pacing around making some stress noises.
Jay
What are your stress noises?
Simone Cameron
Just like, oh, gosh, I can't believe it's happening.
Bronwyn Dendle
But I yeah, I think the nerves are probably increasing now for overall Labor win.
Jay
Angela, how are you feeling?
Angela Fredericks
Um, I'm honestly avoiding feeling. I'm just keeping myself really busy.
Jay
Just doing a vibe check what time is it?
Thinesh
It's 7:56 Almost eight. ALP's voting or winning at the moment. I think that's 52 and 46 52 for ALP 46. Some of the green’s candidates are really cute. Unsurprisingly.
Jay
Are you less nervous?
Thinesh
I feel a lot better than I did an hour ago when ALP had zero seats and LMP had like 22 That was really nerve wracking. But now I'm feeling a bit better but again, it's too early to tell... How are you feeling?
Jay
Surprisingly calm.
Thinesh
Is it surprisingly calm? I feel like you're generally calm. You're like just coasting.
Jay
I am generally calm.
Thinesh
As Jinx monsoon says, water off a duck's back.
Jay
Water off a duck's back.
Jay
And by 11pm, a lot of news organisations are starting to call the election. They’re saying labour has won.
Simone Cameron
Really that’s it?
Nic Dorward
Well minority, majority. But regardless. Albo’s the next PM.
Angela Fredericks
We’re really sure?
Bronwyn Dendle
I don’t want to.
Nic Dorward
I know it’s hard to…
Angela Fredericks.
Sorry, Sorry, okay, okay.
Nic Dorward
Regardless of what happens it is going to be a Labour minority or majority government.
Jay
Despite this, the campaign team are finding it really hard to believe this is true.
Thinesh
They’ve just been through so much and something has always happened to throw them off, so they think there just must be a catch.
Angela Fredericks
We’re definitely sure that Labor in a minority government, is going to, like…
Nic Dorward
I've got journalist texting me saying when I can talk to the campaign.
Angela Fredericks
Because their feet still aren't here. I think for me until they're on the ground here I’m not going to believe it.
Simone Cameron
I almost just feel like it can't be this easy I just can't believe it. Anything good that's ever happened before it's been followed up by like three visas but not before? I can't quite accept.
Jay
Meanwhile, Nic Dorward is organising a call with Priya and the two girls in their community detention home in Perth.
Thinesh
But on the most important night of his life, Nades is stuck at work.
Nic Dorward
So, I'm going I'm gonna put I'm gonna put Vashini and the uh Bilo bitches on a call.
Simone Cameron
No, it’s the mad fucking Bilo witches, get it right.
Bronwyn Dendle
Yeah, so this is it, they’re coming home… They’re coming home really.
Jay
Then Priya and the two girls join the zoom call.
Simone Cameron
… Connecting to audio.
Angela Fredericks
Hey…. It looks like we have won! You're going to come home… Girls, girls you are going to get to come to Bilo.
Vashini Riswan
You're gonna come to Angela's House. You’re going to come to Bilo!
Priya
I go to the my prayer room crying, prayer anything four years, back to...
Angela Fredericks
You did it. You did it…
Bronwyn Dendle
Well done, Priya, well done for hanging in there.
Angela Fredericks
It's all over.
Priya
Before Kopika come to me and ask why mum is blue and red in the counting. But I said red this counting the number of times I come back to Bilo. Everybody said people power, love, is working now.
Angela Fredericks
Love wins!
Simone Cameron
And you never giving up your hope.
Priya
I am so happy today I joined my family again.
Simone Cameron
Oh my gosh Nades needs to get home from work.
Priya
I’m very angry today, of all days, Nades not here.
Simone Cameron
Can you ring him?
Priya
Yeah, two times, I ring, I tell them you are working important work.
Simone Cameron
Um, this is kind of important to them.
Vashini Riswan
You don’t need the job anymore!
Girls
I really want to come home to Bilo.
Angela Fredericks
You're going to
Girls
Will we see the cockatoos?
Angela Fredericks
You will! There are heaps of cockatoos.
See you soon! Bye.
Bronwyn Dendle.
No - no you hang up first no you… bye… I feel like I might ugly cry!
Simone Cameron
My nose has just been dripping the whole time.
Angela Fredericks
Okay Bronwyn, do you know what time it is?
Bronwyn Dendle
Time for the theme song.
Angela Fredericks?
Whats the theme song?
Nic Dorward
What do you four need right now?
Bronwyn Dendle
I need to go to the toilet.
Nic Dorward
You do that first.
Simone Cameron
I need a tissue for my still dripping nose.
Jay
How you doing?
Thinesh
Its just surreal, it’s just hearing those girls talk, knowing that they’re coming home is probably one of the happiest feelings I’ve ever felt in my life, and I got married just a couple of months ago! Like its insane.
Thinesh
The team is finally able to speak to Nades.
Simone Cameron
Ok start packing! Start packing! You look so happy now.
Jay
And quickly switch back to business mode, because there’s a lot of things that need to be done.
Nic Dorward
We’ve just emailed a statement that the family is coming home to media. Which is really lovely. Angela is on a call right now to a journalist. I’m about to tweet it out and not cry when I look at these photos of Priya finding out.
Thinesh
Finally, Anthony Albanese declares his own victory.
Anthony Albanese
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, I pay my respect to their elders past present and emerging and behalf of the Australian Labor Party I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
I can promise all Australians this, no matter how you voted today the Government I lead will respect every one of you, every day.
Jay
And of course, there’s a lot of emotion from the campaign team.
Bronwyn Dendle
But that’s what community does, that’s what family does.
Simone Cameron
It didn’t need to be so painful and so difficult and so drawn out. But it was.
Angela Fredericks.
And we were so incredibly fortunate, that Nic, Nic who wasn’t with change when we started but who came on board and got thrown, okay you’ve gotta deal with these people.
Which I know for Nic working on a Queensland campaign, working for a conservative town I hope that it has restored a little bit of your faith.
Nic Dorward
I feel like I need to refute that because its being recorded. So, while, I should just say growing up in Queensland, a gay kid on the Gold Coast then in Brisbane… A day wouldn’t go past that I would walk through Brisbane, and someone wouldn’t yell something out of a car at me, or something like that and I left Queensland.
And if you had told me, told that Kid that this little town in the Pauline Hansen One Nation belt of Central Queensland was doing more to change hearts and minds about refugees in this country than any refugee organisation, political party, latte sipping Melbourne types, I wouldn’t have believed you and it’s the testament to, well it’s actually the testament to Priya and Nades and their power and their love, but also everyone in this room and this town. Your town has really changed, just changed a lot and it’s so special.
Thinesh
After 4 long years, the campaign team can finally take a breath.
Jay
And what better way to celebrate this victory than with the long-awaited theme song.
Simone Cameron
I’ve been listening to this and every time in this campaign it gets too hard, I just run this song and I think they’re gonna come home. They are gonna come home because we’ve got so much support to get them there. They’re absolutely coming home.
Everyone singing
“Coming Home Tonight” by Shepherd.
Jay
It looks like there’s going to be a joyous reunion for the family as they return to the place, they call home.
Thinesh
What next for them? And what next for all the other asylum seekers still stuck in limbo in Australia? That’s next time on You Have Been Told A Lie.
Jay
What did you think of today’s episode? Let us know over at @youhavebeentoldalie on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Because Twitter has a character limit for its handles, find us @beentoldalie on twitter.
If you want to read the inquiry about the election day boat from Sri Lanka, see footage of the Home To Bilo team delivering the good news to the family, and the celebrations on the night, head to our website youhavebeentoldalie.com, where you can also find all of our references and the transcript for this episode.
Thinesh
We note that asylum seekers experience a lot of trauma, not only before arriving at our borders, but also living in detention. This has an impact on recollection and details.
Jay
Due to the nature of Priya and Nades’s journey across borders, there are some aspects of their story that we will only ever know from their perspective. We have reached out to relevant parties where possible, and where comments were provided, a summary has been included.
Thinesh
This episode is written by Jay Ooi and produced by Jay Ooi and Thinesh Thillainadarajah.
Jay
Audio editing by myself, and Miles
Thinesh
Tamil translations by Thinesh Thillainadarajah and Neeraja Sanmuhanathan
Jay
Priya’s English translation is voiced by Emma Harvey and Nades’s English translation is voiced by Matthew Predny.
Thinesh
The Consulting Producer is Rebekah Holt
Jay
Special thanks to Priya, Nades, Kopika, Tharnicaa, the HomeToBilo team, and the interviewees in this episode, Robyn, Ben Doherty, Simone Cameron, Nic Dorward, Bronwyn Dendle, Angela Fredericks, Karen Middleton, Vashini Riswan.
Thinesh
Thanks to Miles Martignoni, Jess Bineth, Cassandra Steeth, and Scott Spark for script and story advice, and Macarthur Amey for helping with research and fact checking.
Jay
This series is possible thanks to the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship, thank you Que Minh Luu, Benjamin Law, Scott Spark, Jess Bineth, Kali Reid, Clare Holland, and the rest of the team.
Thinesh
There have been many people we’ve spoken to who have helped in so many ways, and many who have asked to remain anonymous. We see you and we thank you for your support.
Jay
This podcast was written, edited, and produced on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We acknowledge all elders past, present, and emerging.
Thinesh
We also pay our respects to the traditional custodians of Gangulu country, where Biloela is now situated. This land were never ceded, always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Jay
On the next and final episode of You Have Been Told A Lie, we join the family as they return home to Biloela.
Credits
Producer Jay Ooi and Thinesh Thillainadarajah
Consulting producer Rebekah Holt
Writer Jay Ooi
Audio editor Jay Ooi
Tamil translators Thinesh Thillainadarajah and Neeraja Sanmuhanathan
Priya’s English voice Emma Harvey
Nades’s English voice Matthew Predny
Interviewees Priya, Nades, Kopika, Tharnicaa, Robyn, Ben Doherty, Simone Cameron, Nic Dorward, Bronwyn Dendle, Angela Fredericks, Karen Middleton, Vashini Riswan, and the Biloela community
Script & Story advice Miles Martignoni, Jess Bineth, Cassandra Steeth, and Scott Spark
Research & fact checking Macarthur Amey
Featured music Sheppard - Coming Home
This series is possible thanks to the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship