‘Hard to justify’: Albanese lashes Coalition’s handling of 2022 Djokovic detention

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has lashed the Coalition for its handling of tennis star Novak Djokovic’s immigration detention during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, after the athlete spoke of the “trauma” he feels when returning to Australia.

Then-immigration minister Alex Hawke denied Djokovic entry into the country for the Australian Open as he was not fully vaccinated, which the country required at the time. He was detained at the Park Hotel in Carlton, Melbourne for five days while he challenged the decision before ultimately being sent home.

Novak Djokovic leaving Melbourne’s Park Hotel immigration detention in 2022.Credit: Luis Ascui

As Djokovic prepares his campaign for an 11th Australian Open title, Albanese criticised the Morrison government’s decision to refuse him access to religious ministration while in detention.

“I found it astonishing that in the lead-up to Christmas, Novak Djokovic was denied by the then-federal government the opportunity to see his Orthodox … priest,” Albanese said on Monday in Queensland. “That was something that I think was hard to justify.”

Albanese’s remarks reopen a debate about Australia’s tough COVID-19 laws that in effect closed the country’s borders during the pandemic and required thousands of people to go through quarantine.

Djokovic, who was the world’s No.1 men’s tennis player at the time, travelled to Australia under a medical exemption because he had recently had COVID-19. He was unvaccinated but denied being against vaccines, saying instead he supported personal choice.

The government cancelled his visa, nonetheless, arguing that his stance could cause civil unrest.

The dean of the Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Brunswick, Melbourne, Father Milorad Loncar, said the government’s decision to cut Djokovic off from religious services at Christmas would have added to the tennis star’s trauma.

“I was the priest who was supposed to ask the authorities to visit him to pay him a pastoral visit, and I was denied,” he told this masthead.

“At the time, I obviously could not quite comprehend why a pastoral visit would be denied to a man who is not criminal, he’s a famous tennis player.

“That was actually the first time I was denied a pastoral visit to anybody, and I’ve been in Australia since 1976.”

Speaking about the 2022 controversy, Djokovic said on Monday he felt trauma every time he went through Australian customs.

“The last couple of times that I landed in Australia, to go through passport control and immigration – I had a bit of trauma from three years ago … and some traces still stay there when I’m passing passport control, just checking out if someone from immigration zone is approaching,” he told the Herald Sun.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said visas were a matter for the federal government, but acknowledged that COVID-19 was tough for everyone.

“It didn’t matter who you were or what you did,” Allan said.

“Apart from some reoccurrences, the pandemic is behind us, and what I’m focused on is supporting a great Australian Open for 2025.”

Allan rejected any suggestion the scandal had tarnished Melbourne’s reputation, citing recent major events such as pop star Robbie Williams’ free concert in the city centre.

“We are the nation’s sporting and cultural capital,” she said.

Throughout the media storm in 2022, when Albanese was opposition leader, he stopped short of urging Djokovic’s deportation, and instead criticised the Morrison government’s handling of the saga.

“It should have been resolved at the point in which a visa was applied for,” Albanese said in January 2022.

“Australia has a policy of not allowing unvaccinated people into Australia. The government is yet to explain how that occurred. And this has been a debacle yet again.”

Hawke, who was contacted for comment, argued at the time that Djokovic’s presence in Australia could undermine vaccine rules.

“I consider that Mr Djokovic’s ongoing presence in Australia may lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment generated in the Australian community, potentially leading to an increase in civil unrest of the kind previously experienced in Australia with rallies and protests which may themselves be a source of community transmission,” he said.

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