Some more details from that Victorian press conference first:
The Victorian government says it hasn’t seen correspondence between the federal government and Tennis Australia that stipulated Novak Djokovic would not be allowed to enter the country if he did not meet Atagi criteria.
Since the tennis star landed in Australia on Wednesday night the federal and Victorian governments have played handball over the incident, which has sparked an international stoush between Serbia and Australia.
On Friday morning, it emerged that the federal government had written twice to Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley in November, saying people who were unvaccinated would not be granted an exemption to travel, even if they had had Covid in the last 6 months.
It is believed Djokovic sought the medical exemption on these grounds.
On Friday, the acting premier, Jacinta Allan, said the state government had not seen the correspondence, even though he was given an exemption by the Victorian government and Tennis Australia to play in the Australian Open. She said:
I’m advised that members of the Victorian government hadn’t seen that correspondence.
We wouldn’t necessarily see it … but it reinforces that point that it is the commonwealth government … that’s responsible for issuing visas and how they engage in that dialogue with Tennis Australia is a matter for them.
The state government has previously said Djokovic’s entry was a two-step process, the first of which was obtaining a visa from the Commonwealth government. The second was him being provided with an exemption to play, which was decided by the medical panel.
Allan downplayed the role of the Victorian government, saying that the state medical panel was to access the medical documentation, not his eligibility for a visa.
“The role of the panel was to assess the medical documentation, not to assess their eligibility for a visa,” she said.
There are still pressing questions about whether the state government should have liaised with federal colleagues or Atagi before granting the exception and why he was granted the visa in the first place, only to be detained on his arrival.
The health minister, Greg Hunt, told 2GB on Thursday he had been surprised Djokovic had been given the exemption.
“I hadn’t realised that was going through the works. And then obviously saw some media reports a couple of nights ago,” Hunt said.
Hunt sent the second letter to Tennis Australia in November, reiterating that the Australian Border Force would not permit anyone to enter who did not meet Atagi’s criteria.
On Wednesday, acting Victorian sports minister, Jaala Pulford, said border force officials contacted the state government hours before he landed, asking if they would sponsor Djokovic’s visa. She tweeted on Wednesday evening that the Victorian government rejected this request.
The home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, and border force have denied this, saying they did not request the support of the Victorian government.
Djokovic is currently being kept in a quarantine hotel, and will fight the deportation in court on Monday morning.
The debacle has enraged both his fans, who feel he has been humiliated, and the Victorian public, who are angry that an unvaccinated tennis star was granted entry after two years of lockdowns.