Nadesalingam family timeline

Nades is forced to join the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam, a militant organisation fighting for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

Priya and her family flee to India and stay in a refugee camp, and she continues to experience harassment and is constantly threatened with deportation.

Nades attempts to escape danger and finds temporary work in Qatar and Kuwait, but is forced to return after his temporary visas expire. The second time he returns, he is arrested, and the third time he returns, his name is blacklisted.

Nades is put in touch with a boat that can take him out of Sri Lanka. He pays 3,200,000 Sri Lankan rupees (~$22,000 AUD).

Nades’s boat arrives at Christmas Island, an external territory of Australia, where he stays for a few months, before being moved to Weipa in Northern Queensland.

Nades applies for a protection visa.

Nades is released from detention and makes his way to Sydney with some other asylum seekers he had met.

Priya’s family organises for her to get on a boat to leave India.

Priya’s boat arrives at Cocos Islands, and is quickly transported to Christmas Island for processing. She is given a short interview and is “screened in”, allowing her to stay and properly make her case for asylum.

Struggling to find work in Sydney, nades moves to Biloela, a rural Queensland town, where he works as a trolley attendant at Woolworths and a cleaner at Teys Meatworks.

After staying on Christmas Island for five and a half months, and then Darwin for four months, Priya is released from detention in Sydney.

Priya and Nades are set up through friends. Neither have phones that can show photos so they do not know what each other looks like. They begin to talk and after they both agree, a marriage is arranged.

Priya and Nades are married in Sydney in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Nades takes Priya with him to start a life together in Biloela.

Nades visa has been rejected, but he appeals his case to the Federal Magistrates Court, then at the full Federal Court, and then to the High Court, but is unsuccessful or his application is denied.

Nades has his work rights removed and starts volunteering at St Vincent’s De Paul Society.

Their first daughter Kopika is born prematurely.

Priya is allowed to apply for her Safe Haven Enterprise Visa, 3 years after she arrives in Australia. She submits her application later this year.

Priya’s visa application is denied. She appeals to the Immigration Assessment Authority, but the decision is upheld.

Their second daughter Tharnicaa is born.

The family’s bridging visa is set to expire on this date. Nades enquires, and they are informed it is coming by post this time, and not by email, which Border Force denies.

The police show up at the family’s home, and tell the family they are being taken to a detention centre. They are not given time to grab any of their things, including food for their 9 month old infant. The family are moved to Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) in preparation for deportation.

An online change.org petition is started by members of the Biloela community.

The family are told by their lawyer that an injunction against deportation is coming that day.

At around 2pm, the family are dragged onto a plane bound for Sydney where other Tamil asylum seekers board. The plane then departs for Perth, but the injunction has come through, so the family are let off at Perth and then returned to MITA. The other asylum seekers are returned to Sri Lanka.

A Federal Circuit Court hearing is held for Priya and Kopika around issues with Priya’s protection visa interview.

The change.org petition is delivered to then-Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s office with 98,745 signatures.

The Federal Circuit Court hearing’s negative outcome is delivered. The next day, the family are served with a deportation notice.

Court grants an injunction to stop the family from being deported, and a Federal Court appeal is lodged regarding the Federal Circuit Court’s decision. It is later denied.

High Court appeal for Priya and Kopika lodged, but it also is later denied.

Tharnicaa develops dental problems due to vitamin deficiencies caused by poor nutrition and lack of sunlight in detention, but the family are not able to get appropriate medical attention until Priya starts smashing things inside the detention centre.

change.org petition delivered to then-Immigration Minister David Coleman’s office now with 190,000 signatures.

Tharnicaa has dental surgery under general anaesthetic. She will now not have any front teeth until her adult teeth grow in.

The family are forced onto another plane in an attempt to deport them to Sri Lanka. Protestors gather at Melbourne airport. An urgent injunction is granted on the basis that Tharnicaa’s case for protection has never been assessed, preventing the family from being deported. The plane lands in Darwin where the family are held for the night.

The Court injunction is extended, confirming the family can’t be deported. That afternoon the family are loaded onto another plane and are not told where they are being taken. The plane lands on Christmas Island.

The family are lodged in a detention facility on Christmas Island that had previously been shut, with Priya stepping through the floor in her first week there.

Federal Court appeal lodged for Tharnicaa, which is later accepted, allowing for a full hearing.

change.org petition delivered to Parliament House now with 252,790 signatures.

UN Human Rights Committee recommends the Australian Government release the family into a community setting within 30 days, which is not actioned.

Kopika is allowed to attend Kindergarten on Christmas Island.

Federal Court hearing for Tharnicaa, which later finds Tharnicaa was denied procedural fairness.

After repeated visits to Christmas Island hospital for abdominal pains, Priya is flown to Perth Hospital for treatment, where she stays for over a week before being flown back to Christmas Island.

After over a week of of trying to get medication attention for Tharnicaa, she is finally admitted to Christmas Island Hospital, where the doctor insists she be treated at Perth Hospital.

Tharnicaa is medically evacuated with Priya to Perth Hospital and is diagnosed with untreated pneumonia and a blood infection.

Tharnicaa celebrates her 4th birthday in hospital, and her first outside of detention.

Nades and Kopika are flown to Perth to join Tharnicaa and Priya, and the family are placed in community detention in Perth.

The family’s story is featured on ABC’s Australian Story.

Minister Hawke grants 12 month visas to Priya, Nades, and Kopika, but not Tharnicaa, who remains in community detention, meaning the family must remain in community detention in Perth.

The Australian Labor Party wins the federal election. Leading up to the election, Labor had promised to allow the family to return to Biloela if they were to win, whilst the Liberal National Party had made it clear the family would not be returning to Biloela.

Acting Minister for Home Affairs Jim Chalmers grants the family a bridging visas, allowing them to return to Biloela. (image source: Jim Chalmers Twitter)

The family arrive home in Biloela to a warm reception from the community.

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles grants the family permanent visas.