Australian prime minister Scott Morrison on Monday said that unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported because he didn’t follow border entry rules — seemingly contracting his own minister.
The Serbian player’s hopes of defending his Australian Open title came crashing down after a federal court on Sunday upheld immigration minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel his visa on “health and good order” grounds.
The tennis world No 1 left Australia “extremely disappointed” hours after the judgement, putting an end to a 10-day saga.
Mr Morrison said in an interview on Monday that the tennis star was deported because he did not comply with the entry rules at the border, adding that to enter the Pacific nation one either has to be vaccinated or “have a valid medical exemption and show evidence of it”.
The prime minister told 2GB radio station that Djokovic was not granted an exemption. “This is about someone who sought to come to Australia and not comply with the entry rules at our border. That’s what this is about,” he said.
But the prime minister’s statement is at odds with the official explanation provided by Australia’s immigration minister. Mr Hawke said his decision was based on the notion that Djokovic’s presence in Australia could stoke anti-vaccination sentiment and civil unrest, making him a danger to public health.
Mr Hawke, who exercised his personal powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa for a second time, said that he assumed Djokovic “entered Australia consistently” with the rules set out by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
“For present purposes, I will assume that Mr Djokovic’s position is correct rather than seeking to get to the bottom of this here,” Mr Hawke wrote in a letter to the tennis star’s lawyers on Friday.
The Serbian had cited a recent Covid-19 infection as the reason for requesting a medical exemption from being vaccinated, and Mr Hawke said the player had received a supportive letter indicating this would be sufficient from Tennis Australia.
“I have taken into account that upon receipt of this letter, Mr Djokovic considered that he had a valid medical exemption to come to Australia and that he would therefore be entitled to remain in Australia,” he said. The minister added that the tennis player “personally made no attempt to contravene any Australian law”.
Under this part of the Migration Act, Djokovic would face a three-year ban from Australia, but the prime minister said he could be allowed entry sooner under the “right circumstances”.
“There is the opportunity for them to return in the right circumstances and that would be considered at the time,” Mr Morrison said.
Djokovic was granted a visa to enter Australia despite being unvaccinated on the basis that he contracted a Covid-19 infection in mid-December.
But after arriving at the airport in Melbourne on 6 January his visa was cancelled by the Australian Border Force, which decided he didn’t qualify for a medical exemption, leading him to spend four nights in hotel detention before the decision was quashed.
On 10 January, a federal circuit court judge reinstated Djokovic’s visa and ordered the government to release him from immigration detention. Four days later, Mr Hawke used his ministerial discretion to revoke the visa again.
