Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the appalling circumstances facing refugees in Australia who are trapped on temporary protection visas. Two weeks ago I met Reeta Arulruban, who was distraught because her 27-year-old son, Dixtan, is about to be deported back to Sri Lanka. He was just 13 years old when his father was murdered in the 2009 Mullivaikkal genocide in Sri Lanka. Along with his mother and his grandmother, he was then held in one of the army's internment camps, a camp which was notorious for human rights violations. Soon after their release, Reeta, his mother, was sexually assaulted by soldiers in their own home while Dixtan was in the next room. Thankfully, after fleeing to Australia in 2012, Reeta was granted permanent protection. However, astoundingly, in 2019, Dixtan was determined to not be a refugee and has been in detention since. Reeta told me about the dire mental health impacts this experience is having on her and her son. Reeta came to Australia to escape violence and cruelty but is still being subjected to it here.

Temporary visas were an inhumane part of the coalition's agenda against refugees and people seeking asylum and, despite rhetoric from the government that they are going to end, for many, they are still in place. It is time to end this nightmare for the Arulruban family and for those stuck in legal limbo. It is time to stop re-traumatising people who are already traumatised. We are urging the government to release Dixtan from detention and to reunite him with his mother immediately. No-one should be punished for seeking protection. We must ensure that, for people seeking asylum, no-one is left behind.