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| The Udawatta family made a life in New South Wales.(Supplied: Florence Udawatta) |
To: 'Pat.Conaghan.MP@aph.gov.au'
Subject: The Udawatta family
Dear Mr Conaghan,
I recently watched the 7.30 Report news item about the plight of the Udawatta family, and listened the following morning to your interview with Hamish McDonald. I felt greatly encouraged by your expression of support and compassion for Florence Udawatta and her children.
As you stated in the interview, it should not be necessary for the family to wait eighteen months or more for a decision by the Acting Minister for Immigration regarding the appeal against the decision to not grant them a Protection Visa. In any event, as you will know as a former immigration lawyer, their chances of being granted a Protection Visa, given the circumstances of their arrival in Australia, are virtually zero. The Acting Minister, as you stated, has the power under the Immigration Act to grant the family a permanent visa on compassionate grounds. I was very pleased to note that you have stated that there is no case for sending them back to Sri Lanka, and that the Minister should allow them to stay. They are a much-loved and highly respected family in the local Kempsey community.
I trust that you have made formal representations to the Acting Minister and that you have sought an early decision in this very sad case.
I would be grateful if you could update me at some point on the progress with your representations to Alan Tudge. It would be wonderful if the family could have some certainty very soon about their future, given all that they have had to endure during Raj Adawatta’s illness and subsequent death in September.
Yours sincerely,
Mike G
Valla Beach NSW 2448
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