PEOPLE OF THE YEAR – Asylum seekers
Just a piece of paper separates Thanu Mylvaganam from his dreams of marriage, children and buying a home in Australia.
The motivated 31-year-old Tamil asylum seeker in Berwick works long hours, pays taxes, employs workers and has found love with fiancee Sai Dhiruselvam.
All while being denied basic rights as a bridging visa holder for 13 years.
He believes in hard work, loves the great outdoors and tennis and giving back to the community.
“If I have permanent residency, think of how many things I can achieve.
“That permanent visa is the one thing I’ve been waiting for – if I get it, I’m the happiest person in the world.
“I can straightaway buy a house and the second thing is I’d like to marry Sai.”
Instead, the dream is on hold, and the long wait on the outer takes a toll on his mental health. He misses his parents and family in Sri Lanka, who he hasn’t seen for 13 years.
If granted permanent residency in Australia, he’d be able to meet them outside Sri Lanka.
“I just want to see my family anywhere, even if for only one day.”
Thanu is among hundreds of asylum seekers, who last year protested in camps in Oakleigh, Dandenong and Melbourne in a bid for permanent protection.
Their spirited vigils attracted media attention including from Star Journal, which featured several protestors’ stories in October.
Like Thanu, many were working, studying and aspiring for a better life but frustrated by their uncertain plight. They are all selected as Star Journal’s People of the Year 2024.
Thanu was part of the Docklands protest camp, sleeping on the streets for at least 80 of the 100 day vigil and returning once a week to his and Sai’s Berwick unit for sleep.
“We didn’t want to do this protest, we have a lot of work and other things to do.
“Why are we doing this protest? It’s because we need our freedom.
“We’ve spent a lot of time here in limbo while working hard in Australia. We’re part of the community.”
He says the encampment was pressured by City of Melbourne, and attacked by Nazis
“It was dangerous at times,” Sai says. “It was not safe at night – people came down and were harassing and bullying them.”
The protest camps have also been staged at the Oakleigh office of Hotham MP Clare O’Neil when she was Home Affairs Minister, as well as o utside Bruce MP and Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Assistant Minister Julian Hill’s office in Dandenong.
Recently the Government passed laws to strengthen powers to remove non-citizens, including bridging visa holders from Australia.
“The Bill sends a strong signal that the Australian Government expects cooperation with removal efforts and facilitates the removal from Australia of an intractable caseload of non-citizens who have exhausted all avenues to remain in Australia,” a spokesperson told Star Journal.
Hill recently insisted genuine refugees would not be deported.
“(It) deals with a case load of individuals who have had their visa cancelled on character grounds, who often have serious criminal histories.”
In August, Hill stated that “almost 18,000 of the 19,000 Temporary Protection Visa holders in limbo for a decade under the Liberals have now been granted permanent visas”.
“Many others from the Bridging Visa caseload are now also able to apply for permanent protection.
“The legacy of the remaining caseload is complex, and every case is different and needs to be worked through individually.”
Meanwhile, many like Thanu remain effectively stateless, unable to return to their homeland due to fear of persecution and with no permanent refuge in Australia.
Many of them live in Greater Dandenong and Casey.
Thanu knows of asylum seekers who arrived at the same time as him who have been granted RoS visas.
Meanwhile his application has languished. Rejected under the maligned Fast Track process in 2017, and since under appeal.
The Government hasn’t provided any updates on his visa status for five years, he says.
He’s made fruitless personal requests to former Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and other ministers.
“I handed over my letter to him, saying ‘Please sir, do something – I want my life.’
“That’s why I got involved in the protests. I can’t talk with the Minister, I can’t talk with the Prime Minister – I can only do one thing to raise my voice, to get our freedom.”
As a 19 year old, Thanu arrived by boat in Australia in 2012 and spent six months in detention centres.
Since his release, he has remained on a bridging visa E.
Settling in Dandenong in 2013, he was initially not allowed work rights.
Living in a house of up to 10 people, he instead studied English language classes, took up chess and relied on food from charities.
Three years later, he gained a work permit. He initially worked on an assembly line by night, office-cleaning jobs by day and since worked casually in various factories up to 16 hours a day.
He’s gained heavy-vehicle and forklift licences, and worked a second job as an Uber driver.
Since then, he’s become a subcontractor, hiring himself and three others to deliver newspapers to Gippsland.
He works seven days a week, with a side hustle delivering Christmas trees last month.
Meanwhile, Malaysian-born Sai arrived in Australia on a temporary student visa, enrolling in a biomedical science course in the hope of gaining permanent residency.
She is interning at St John of God Hospital in Berwick.
“It’s not easy being without family for that long. Even though I visit them every year, it’s tough.
“For Thanu not being able to see his family for 13 years is just bad. I can’t imagine myself in that situation.”
Sai says Thanu now “desperately needs an answer”.
“He deserves a life in Australia because he’s given back. He came here at a very young age, adapted to this lifestyle and been in the community.
“He really needs to start a family. He needs to own a house just like the rest of us.
“If we sent Thanu back to his home country he wouldn’t survive there.”
