Welcome home. With a Labor victory at the 2022 federal election, we join the family as they return home to Biloela. It’s a teary, frantic, and joyous reunion for them, but what does this mean for other families like the Nadeslinagams? Is Labor’s election win the victory that people think it is?In this episode we explore what our government is still doing to not have to accept asylum seekers into our country, what made this family and this campaign so special, as well as what’s next for the family.

<description>&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Welcome home. With a Labor victory at the 2022 federal election, we join the family as they return home to Biloela. It’s a teary, frantic, and joyous reunion for them, but what does this mean for other families like the Nadeslinagams? Is Labor’s election win the victory that people think it is?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;In this episode we explore what our government is still doing to not have to accept asylum seekers into our country, what made this family and this campaign so special, as well as what’s next for the family.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Nadesalingam family finally return home, but what next for them and tens of thousands like them?

Welcome home. With a Labor victory at the 2022 federal election, we join the family as they return home to Biloela. It’s a teary, frantic, and joyous reunion for them, but what does this mean for other families like the Nadeslinagams? Is Labor’s election win the victory that people think it is?

In this episode we explore what our government is still doing to not have to accept asylum seekers into our country, what made this family and this campaign so special, as well as what’s next for the family.

Episode 6: Cockatoo Homeland

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?&nbsp;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.

<description>&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Everything rides on the 2022 federal election, so we go to Biloela to see how the community campaign is going

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.

Episode 5: The Ballad of the Ballots

Another deportation attempt is made, but this time, more people are following their story. Supporters drop what they are doing and dash to the airport to help. Campaigners jump the fence and get arrested. Nevertheless, the family are separated and forced onto a plane. But an urgent injunction is granted mid-flight, and forces the plane to land in Darwin. Rather than fly them back to Melbourne detention, the Nadesalingams are flown to a detention centre on a remote offshore territory of Australia, a detention centre that has not been in use for over 4 years.The government spent $27 million dollars in 2019 reopening this facility to detain four people. It is in this facility that both Priya and Tharnicaa faced significant health issues. So with the amount of money going into these detention centres, why are conditions so poor? And why is nothing happening to fix it?

<description>&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Another deportation attempt is made, but this time, more people are following their story. Supporters drop what they are doing and dash to the airport to help. Campaigners jump the fence and get arrested. Nevertheless, the family are separated and forced onto a plane. But an urgent injunction is granted mid-flight, and forces the plane to land in Darwin. Rather than fly them back to Melbourne detention, the Nadesalingams are flown to a detention centre on a remote offshore territory of Australia, a detention centre that has not been in use for over 4 years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;The government spent $27 million dollars in 2019 reopening this facility to detain four people. It is in this facility that both Priya and Tharnicaa faced significant health issues. So with the amount of money going into these detention centres, why are conditions so poor? And why is nothing happening to fix it?&lt;/p&gt;</description>

After a second deportation, the family are flown to Christmas Island.

Another deportation attempt is made, but this time, more people are following their story. Supporters drop what they are doing and dash to the airport to help. Campaigners jump the fence and get arrested. Nevertheless, the family are separated and forced onto a plane. But an urgent injunction is granted mid-flight, and forces the plane to land in Darwin. Rather than fly them back to Melbourne detention, the Nadesalingams are flown to a detention centre on a remote offshore territory of Australia, a detention centre that has not been in use for over 4 years.

The government spent $27 million dollars in 2019 reopening this facility to detain four people. It is in this facility that both Priya and Tharnicaa faced significant health issues. So with the amount of money going into these detention centres, why are conditions so poor? And why is nothing happening to fix it?

Episode 4: A Private Affair

Early one Monday morning, having spent three and a half years building their life in Biloela, the Nadesalingams are forcibly removed from their homes, thrown into white vans, and flown to a detention centre in Melbourne. The family are told they can’t get access to a phone unless they sign documents saying they would leave the country. What do they do?Why was their visa application unsuccessful? What information is the government using to assess them? And what else can they do to not be sent back to danger? Meanwhile, the Biloela community are left shocked by the sudden disappearance of the Nadesalingams and start organising.

<description>&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Early one Monday morning, having spent three and a half years building their life in Biloela, the Nadesalingams are forcibly removed from their homes, thrown into white vans, and flown to a detention centre in Melbourne. The family are told they can’t get access to a phone unless they sign documents saying they would leave the country. What do they do?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Why was their visa application unsuccessful? What information is the government using to assess them? And what else can they do to not be sent back to danger? Meanwhile, the Biloela community are left shocked by the sudden disappearance of the Nadesalingams and start organising.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Life in detention after an attempted deportation

Early one Monday morning, having spent three and a half years building their life in Biloela, the Nadesalingams are forcibly removed from their homes, thrown into white vans, and flown to a detention centre in Melbourne. The family are told they can’t get access to a phone unless they sign documents saying they would leave the country. What do they do?

Why was their visa application unsuccessful? What information is the government using to assess them? And what else can they do to not be sent back to danger? Meanwhile, the Biloela community are left shocked by the sudden disappearance of the Nadesalingams and start organising.

Episode 3: Track Changes

It was conventional British colonial policy to look for minorities in colonised territories to use them where possible as the administrative class. Minorities, like the Tamils in Sri Lanka, tended to be more amenable to be used in this fashion because at times this strengthened their position in society. Following Sri Lanka’s independence from the British, the majority Sinhalese ethnic group take power. Racial tensions escalate, erupting in a war in 1983, with government sanctioned troops killing thousands of Tamil civilians as they attempt to suppress the Tamil Tiger movement. Priya and Nades are caught in the middle of it.&nbsp;But what role does Australia play in this civil war? And Australia says things are better since the war ended in 2009, but what is it actually like for the people living there?

<description>&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;It was conventional British colonial policy to look for minorities in colonised territories to use them where possible as the administrative class. Minorities, like the Tamils in Sri Lanka, tended to be more amenable to be used in this fashion because at times this strengthened their position in society. Following Sri Lanka’s independence from the British, the majority Sinhalese ethnic group take power. Racial tensions escalate, erupting in a war in 1983, with government sanctioned troops killing thousands of Tamil civilians as they attempt to suppress the Tamil Tiger movement. Priya and Nades are caught in the middle of it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;But what role does Australia play in this civil war? And Australia says things are better since the war ended in 2009, but what is it actually like for the people living there?&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Why Priya and Nades fled Sri Lanka, and what Australi has to do with it

It was conventional British colonial policy to look for minorities in colonised territories to use them where possible as the administrative class. Minorities, like the Tamils in Sri Lanka, tended to be more amenable to be used in this fashion because at times this strengthened their position in society. Following Sri Lanka’s independence from the British, the majority Sinhalese ethnic group take power. Racial tensions escalate, erupting in a war in 1983, with government sanctioned troops killing thousands of Tamil civilians as they attempt to suppress the Tamil Tiger movement. Priya and Nades are caught in the middle of it. 

But what role does Australia play in this civil war? And Australia says things are better since the war ended in 2009, but what is it actually like for the people living there?

Episode 2: Bloody Pearl

A family ripped from their rural Queensland community, and a town fighting to bring them back. The Nadesalingam family captured the hearts and minds of people across the world when they were ripped from their regional Australian community of Biloela, but there’s more to this than a heartwarming story. 
You Have Been Told A Lie will explore the social fabric of Sri Lanka forcing Tamils to flee, the geopolitical and national forces at play when it comes to Australia’s immigration policy, the groundswell movement from their local community and beyond, the treatment and processing of asylum seekers in Australia, along with the lies we’ve been told along the way. Who does the family need to be in order to stay?
www.youhavebeentoldalie.com

You Have Been Told A Lie - Blood, Borders, and Biloela

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