About 60 protesters gathered near Queens Wharf on Sunday to protest against the treatment of a Tamil family being deported to Sri Lanka.
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The rally was part of a nationwide protest against the impending deportation of Priya, Nadesalingam and their two Australian-born children, Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that he had spoken to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in an effort to stop the "publicly funded cruelty".
Cathy Robertson, of Hunter Asylum Seeker Advocacy, said the family had "suffered terribly".
"The two little girls were born here," she said.
"Scott Morrison says we will give a go to people who have a go. These people have done the sort of things he talks about.
"I don't want to be part of a country that's like this. I feel really ashamed, actually."
Rally co-organiser Niko Leka said the family's deportation was a "clear violation" of the wishes of the Australian community.
Priya and Nadesalingam fled Sri Lanka due to persecution and travelled separately to Australia by boat in 2012 and 2013.
They lived with their children in the Queensland town of Biloela before Australian Border Force officers moved them to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne in March last year after their visas ran out.
In May, the High Court dismissed an application to review the case.
They were placed on a charter flight to Sri Lanka on Thursday, but a last-minute court injunction stopped the family in Darwin so Tharunicaa's case could be heard on Wednesday.
The family was flown to the Australian detention centre on Christmas Island on Saturday morning.