INTERNATIONAL: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made an speech on Thursday morning, saying Novak Djokovic failed to provide sufficient proof to receive a medical exemption to enter Australia.
Australian Border Force on Thursday cancelled the visa of Djokovic, the World No. 1 tennis player, and denied him entry into the country to play in the Australian Open tournament after he was forced to wait for several hours at Melbourne airport.
In a dramatic series of events through the Melbourne night, Djokovic touched down at Tullamarine airport Wednesday (January 5) about 11:30 p.m. local time (1230GMT) after a 14-hour flight from Dubai, but was ushered into an isolation room under police guard when Australian officials said his visa did not allow for medical exemptions.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated in a press release:
"Rules are rules. And there are no special cases. Rules are rules, it's what I said to you yesterday, that's the policy of the government and has been our government's strong border protection policies and particularly in relation to the pandemic, that has ensured that Australia has one of the lowest death rates from COVID anywhere in the world."
"And I want to thank the Australian Border Force officers for doing their job, implementing the government's policy. And the ABF has done their job, entry with a visa requires double vaccination or a medical exemption. I'm advised that such an exemption was not in place and as a result he is subject to the same rule as anyone else."
"Ultimately, this is the responsibility of the traveller. It is for the traveller to be able to assert and back up their ability to come into the country consistent with our laws. So they will take advice from many places, no advice was provided by the Commonwealth Government I underscore but they will take advice. But it's up to them at the end of the day and if they don't comply with the rules then the Australian Border Force will do their job and they have done their job. This is nothing about any one individual, it is simply a matter of following the rules. And so those processes will take their course over the next few hours and that event will play out as it should."
"People try to run the border all the time, by the way. You know, people come with a visa but may not satisfy other requirements for entry and people are put on planes and turned back all the time. Anybody who has watched the Border Patrol shows will understand that. This is not an irregular thing to happen, if someone is put on a plane and told to return to their country even if they may have come with a valid visa. A visa is one issue, but you have to have a double vaccination because that's the country's rule for entry into the country and that is assessed at the border. We don't have Border Force officers in every airport around the country and he provided information to the airline to allow his entry onto the plane but people get on that plane. That is not an assurance that they will be able to come through Australia's border at the other side. It wasn't a problem necessarily with the visa, there are many visas granted and if you have a visa and you're double vaccinated well, you're very, very welcome to come. And I think what this says to everybody in Australia, people are welcome in Australia but if you're not double vaccinated and you're not an Australian resident or citizen, well you can't come. And many countries have those rules around the world and we have and they have been very important for securing Australia during the course of this pandemic. And so it is on them to have the proof to show why they wouldn't have to be vaccinated. Now, he was unable to furnish that proof to the Border Force officers at the airport last night and they are the rules and it happens on many occasions and that's what's now happened."
"There is no suggestion of any particular position in relation to Serbia, in fact, Serbia been a very good friend of Australia and provided very strong support particularly on security issues globally and we greatly appreciate that. So this is a very specific case that deals with one individual, Australia's sovereign border laws and their fair application."
"It is not appropriate for me to go into Mr. Djokovic's own medical history, that would not be a fair thing for us to do. They are matters for him to discuss in terms of his own medical history but all I can say is that the evidence for medical exemption that was provided was found to be insufficient."
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the country has offered its support to tennis world number one Novak Djokovic. In his twitter account, the Serbian President declared:
"I told our Novak that the whole of Serbia is with him and that our bodies are doing everything to see that the harassment of the world's best tennis player is brought to an end immediately,"
On Tuesday, Djokovic has said he has initially being granted a medical exemption from the country's COVID-19 vaccination requirements so that he could play in the Australian Open.
Arriving in Australia, however, things turned out differently.
