<p class="title">A Tamil family of four -- including two Australian-born toddlers -- have been moved to a remote island off the coast of Indonesia, despite a court order blocking deportation, their lawyer said Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family -- who are fighting to remain in Australia because they fear persecution in Sri Lanka -- were moved to Christmas Island detention facility overnight, lawyer Carina Ford said, speaking in Melbourne.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The island is a remote Australian territory around 350 kilometres (225 miles) south of Java. The detention centre there had been closed for years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I don't really understand the motive," Ford said, adding that it made adequate legal representation more difficult. "The family are obviously distressed."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family's case has become a new flashpoint over the Australian government's hardline immigration policies, which include turning away refugees arriving by boat and de facto offshore detention, both measures condemned by the United Nations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family's neighbours from rural Queensland have campaigned for them to stay. The department of home affairs and minister Peter Dutton's office did not respond to request for comment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dutton had earlier ordered the family to be sent to Sri Lanka but a dramatic call from a judge grounded the aircraft they were travelling on before it left Australian airspace.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two girls, Kopika, aged four, and Tharunicca, aged two, were born in Australia but do not have citizenship. They have never been to Sri Lanka. </p>
<p class="title">A Tamil family of four -- including two Australian-born toddlers -- have been moved to a remote island off the coast of Indonesia, despite a court order blocking deportation, their lawyer said Saturday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family -- who are fighting to remain in Australia because they fear persecution in Sri Lanka -- were moved to Christmas Island detention facility overnight, lawyer Carina Ford said, speaking in Melbourne.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The island is a remote Australian territory around 350 kilometres (225 miles) south of Java. The detention centre there had been closed for years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I don't really understand the motive," Ford said, adding that it made adequate legal representation more difficult. "The family are obviously distressed."</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family's case has become a new flashpoint over the Australian government's hardline immigration policies, which include turning away refugees arriving by boat and de facto offshore detention, both measures condemned by the United Nations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The family's neighbours from rural Queensland have campaigned for them to stay. The department of home affairs and minister Peter Dutton's office did not respond to request for comment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dutton had earlier ordered the family to be sent to Sri Lanka but a dramatic call from a judge grounded the aircraft they were travelling on before it left Australian airspace.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The two girls, Kopika, aged four, and Tharunicca, aged two, were born in Australia but do not have citizenship. They have never been to Sri Lanka. </p>