Girl’s family has spent 15 months in detention since being arrested at their home in Biloela, Queensland

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A two-year-old girl who was taken into immigration detention with her family from their home in Biloela has been denied a cake on her birthday.

It was her second birthday inside the Melbourne detention centre and the second time visitors were blocked from bringing in a cake to celebrate, despite her father, Nades, going through the required rigorous application process, including submitting a “special purpose food and/or medication request” to Border Force.

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The form stipulated the conditions for a cake, including that it had to be consumed in the visits area and could “only be shared with the detainee for which the visit has been approved”.

It could not be taken back to detainees’ accommodation, and any leftovers had to be thrown out.

“Honestly, are we now at the point of denying a two-year-old a birthday cake?,” said shadow immigration minister, Kristina Keneally.

“No one denies there are rules in place, but surely common sense and compassion cuts in somewhere, even in the Morrison government.”

Guardian Australia has previously reported on complaints about rules and regulations which have affected the physical and mental health of detainees and their visitors.

Tharunicaa and her sister Kopika, aged 4, were last month allowed to go to a playgroup for the first time, but the excursion hasn’t been repeated.

In May it was revealed Tharunicaa’s teeth were in extremely poor health, and her mother, Priya, claimed she was being denied proper treatment. Medical records suggested the dental issues were due to vitamin deficiencies and lack of sunlight in the first year of their detention. A friend of the family said on Sunday the nerves of four teeth are now exposed, and the child requires surgery.

The Biloela family has spent 15 months in detention since they were arrested in a dawn raid on their Queensland home over a one-day visa overstay. Separate asylum claims have been rejected, and ministerial intervention is their only avenue to stay in Australia. The family has pointed to recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, one of which occurred in the parents’ home town, in claiming they fear for their safety if returned.

Tharunicaa and Kopika are among at least five children being held in the Melbourne immigration transit accommodation.

Thehome affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has repeatedly claimed that there are no children in detention. But the Sri Lankan children and their parents are in what’s called a residential precinct, which thehome affairs department describes as an “alternative place of detention”. The department also refers to people held within it as “detainees”.

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While the residential precinct has some benefits which are not afforded to other detainees – such as limited self-catering – they are under guard, prevented from leaving the centre, and required to adhere to strict rules and visiting guidelines.

A report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, released on Monday, found that while the residential precincts were “far less harsh and restrictive” than other detention environments, “closed immigration detention generally should not be used for people who are vulnerable, and should never be used for children”.

“The commission therefore questions whether the ongoing use of closed immigration detention, even under less restrictive conditions, is necessary, reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances of the people detained at the BRP,” the report said.

“The commission considers that community-based alternatives to detention should be used routinely for children, families and people who are vulnerable, with conditions varied as needed to manage identified risks.”

The report found that Australia’s onshore immigration detention was “unlike any other liberal democracy” and increasingly prison-like.

