A Coalition MP Was Heckled On ‘Q&A’ For His Shit Biloela Family Response
"What will it take for Mr Morrison to simply let this family come home to Bilo where they are welcome, wanted, and needed?"
Advocates have expressed concern that the Morrison Government is waiting for the upcoming election to be over before once again threatening the safety and security of the Biloela family in Australia.
Social worker and family friend Bronwyn Dendle appeared on Q&A on Thursday to ask the panel why the Coalition still won’t let the Murugappan family return to their rural town community of Biloela in Queensland.
The family of four were removed from Christmas Island Detention Centre to Perth last June, where they have been stuck in community detention ever since after only three of them were given bridging visas. Youngest child Tharnicaa — who is only four years old — was denied a visa, preventing them from going back home.
“The Morrison Government is ignoring the majority of Australians, and even some of its own MPs including the Deputy Prime Minister, who want them to be allowed to come home to Bilo,” said Dendle. “We are terrified that Mr Morrison is waiting until after the election to force this family to danger, just like he tried to do last election,” she said. “What will it take for Mr Morrison to simply let this family come home to Bilo — where they are welcome, wanted, and needed?”
What do political leaders plan to do to help the Biloela family as well as other families in detention centres? #QandA pic.twitter.com/S7q15JVpTh
— QandA (@QandA) April 21, 2022
Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt was heckled after saying he has sympathy for the Marugappan family, but didn’t have all the facts to comment further on their specific case. “The reason our border protection has been so strong is because we’ve been consistent on the rules,” said Pitt. “Now, I understand the challenges, I absolutely get it. But that consistency has protected this country, it really has, and will continue to support it.”
Independent Member for Kennedy Bob Katter then went on one of his trademark rants, saying Australia should learn from its mistakes from letting white settlers in, and keep current border protection enforcements. “I believe the Biloela family should come in, no question about it,” he said, but also expressed that refugee intakes under past Labor governments had seen people “taking our jobs and undermining pay and conditions”.
Labor Senator Murray Watt was applauded for saying the family should be allowed to go back, saying Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has already had four years in power to let them return to Biloela.
“They are terrified — we remember after the last election when the LNP got back in, it was devastating for them to know that they weren’t going to able to come home straight away,” said Dendle. “Not long after that there was the attempted deportation, which we had to stop with a court injunction mid-air. So they are petrified — petrified — that it’s going to happen again.”
The exchange comes after Barnaby Joyce suggested he was in “negotiations” with Cabinet about the family’s future last week. The Murugappan family marked the fourth anniversary of their ongoing immigration ordeal in March.
Our choice of government is a life or death matter for this Biloela family – as it is many others #QandA
— Philippa Barr (@philippabarr_) April 21, 2022