A Tamil Refugee Was Handed A $9000 Legal Bill From Department Of Home Affairs
"I don't want this hanging over me forever, because the Department said it's going to affect my visa, my future."
A Tamil refugee and human rights activist has been slapped with a hefty legal bill by the Australian Government after trying to avoid being sent back to detention.
— Content Warning: This article discusses attempted suicide —
Thanush Selvarasa will have to pay the Department of Home Affairs nearly $9000 after losing a case in the High Court two years ago. He received the invoice in late January and has until February 23 to settle his balance.
“This bill has made me so upset and stressed,” said Selvarasa, who told Junkee he hasn’t slept well since receiving it. “I don’t want this hanging over me forever, because the Department said it’s going to affect my visa, my future…I want to release this pain.”
I have received a large $8k legal bill from Home Affairs.
I was unconscious in hospital in ICU after I tried to take my life to escape from the hell of indefinite detention. My lawyers went to court to help me not get sent back to detention. I have to pay I’m very shocked. pic.twitter.com/d9cH4L1UwN— Thanush selvarasa (@Thanus79084726) January 24, 2022
The 33-year-old fled Sri Lanka in 2013, and was sent to Manus Island and Papua New Guinea detention centres for six years. In 2019, he was flown to Australia under Medevac laws, where he was locked inside Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel in Preston. An account of the “cramped” conditions at Mantra described more than 60 men trapped on a single floor, with “shared rooms and no access to the community”.
“Windows were locked closed and there was nowhere for fresh air or sunlight. They were denied the right to study, and were lost in the relentless torture of endless days and weeks and months, with no end in sight.”
During his year in the building, Selvarasa’s mental health deteriorated, and he attempted to take his own life in his room. He spent several days in ICU in a critical condition, and while still in hospital, appealed to the High Court to release him into the community instead of back into detention.
Selvarasa, unfortunately, lost the case against the Department and was sent to Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) a fortnight later. The high-security detention facility took away his phone, leaving him unable to reach his support network, and he was shadowed by a guard around the clock.
After eight years in detention both onshore and overseas, Selvarasa was finally released into the community on a temporary bridging visa. Despite the sudden win, he was only provided three weeks of accommodation, before he was left without government support.
Selvarasa took the adversity in his stride, finding work, undertaking NDIS support training, helping out at an asylum seeker centre, moving into a shared rental, and lobbying politicians to fight against indefinite detention. It came as a shock to receive the legal bill a year and a half later — if not paid, threatening him to be re-detained, and sabotaging his chances of ever entering Australia again if he settles elsewhere.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs told Junkee that they do not comment on individual cases. “The general rule applied by courts is that an unsuccessful litigant is ordered to pay the costs of the successful party at the conclusion of legal proceedings,” they said.
“This is clearly unfair,” said Selvarasa. “Me and my friends clearly came to Australia seeking safety, but still my friends are suffering in detention for no reason,” he said, reflecting on the safety and health of other asylum seekers and refugees despite his own continued battle. “We have to end this situation.”
A fundraiser to help Selvarasa pay his legal fees has exceeded the target in just 24 hours. You can still donate here.
Photo Credit: Thanush Selvarasa/Twitter