Scott Morrison rejects claims that the federal government gave TA conflicting advice on exemptions

Scott Morrison has fired back at Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley over claims the federal government gave conflicting advice on exemptions.

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley at Melbourne Park. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Scott Morrison has rejected claims from Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley that the federal government gave conflicting advice on exemptions.

Speaking on Monday morning, the Prime Minister said his government’s advice to Tennis Australia in November stated that having Covid-19 in the past six months was not grounds for an approved exemption to enter Australia.

“It could not be more clear,” he said.

Asked if his government would again cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa, if he wins the court case, Mr Morrison said: “I’m not going to be making any comment on the matter before the court.”

On Sunday Tiley broke his silence about the contentious medical exemptions that saw Djokovic’s visa cancelled, claiming officials gave conflicting advice daily.

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Scott Morrison has fired back at Tennis Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Leaked documents obtained by the Herald Sun show Tennis Australia pleaded with the Department of Home Affairs to check the visa paperwork of Djokovic and other players weeks before they boarded planes.

The organiser’s concerns over how the medical exemptions would work date back to November. But the request was refused by department officials.

“Health and Home Affairs are unable to provide or review certificates. Certificates are reviewed at check in,” the letter states.

“All travellers who wish to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ for the purpose of their travel must provide a vaccine certificate which fulfil the requirements as stipulated above. Travellers need to ensure their certificate is compliant.”

In an interview with the Herald Sun, Mr Tiley admits that the government might not have had the resources to check the permits. But he said tennis organisers just wanted help.

“We are not migration experts, we want someone who is to make that assessment,” he said.

“We would ask the questions. We’ve also been told the medical exemption process is a state responsibility, and they will do it against the federal guidelines.

Mr Tiley said the process was mired in confusion. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“And so there was a time where operationally we (had) to step back, because that’s left up to the medical experts.”

Asked if the Victorian government gave him any assurances that process was correct and unvaccinated players would be allowed in with their exemption, Mr Tiley said: “Absolutely, because Victoria know that their responsibilities provide medical exemptions”.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday said there was a clear difference between visas and entry requirements, the latter which required foreign citizens to be fully vaccinated.

“That’s been a very clear entry requirement, very clearly communicated to Tennis Australia as well,” Senator Birmingham said.

But Mr Tiley said there was “plenty of contradictory and conflicting information” as the pandemic was unfolding.

He said Tennis Australia officials had weekly meetings with home affairs, both health departments, the state government and Australia’s expert immunisation panel, where they had sought advice about unvaccinated players.

“We would get something in writing and then two days later in a meeting, we’d get a conflicting advice,” Mr Tiley said.

“It wasn’t clear.”

Novak Djokovic is preparing to fight his case in court. Picture: Michael Klein

Leaked letters also show TA’s chief medical officer, Associate Professor Carolyn Broderick, wrote to Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton seeking clarification about “an urgent issue” on the medical exemptions for unvaccinated visitors to Victoria because of a recent infection.

“In considering this issue, I note that the criteria for medical exemptions is based on ATAGI clinical guidance. However, the application of this guidance appears to differ across jurisdictions,” she wrote.

Prof Sutton replied on December 2. “Anyone with a history of recent COVID-19 infection (defined as within 6 months) and who can provide appropriate evidence of this medical history, is exempt from quarantine obligations upon arrival in Victoria from overseas,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, acting Premier Jacinta Allan said the state government’s relationship with Tennis Australia had not been damaged by the player exemption saga.

Last week Ms Allan claimed the state government was not told about correspondence between Tennis Australia and the commonwealth, which informed tournament organisers that prior Covid infection was not grounds for a genuine medical exemption.

“We’ve worked really closely with Tennis Australia, as we do every single year, to run a safe and successful Australian Open,” she said.

“How Tennis Australia organises itself is really a matter for them.”

Tennis Australia wrote to Brett Sutton seeking clarification. Picture: David Crosling

Letters between the federal government and Mr Tiley, which have been made public, revealed that having acquired the virus within the previous six months – Djokovic claimed in court documents he contracted the virus on December 16 – was not an ­approved exemption.

Under Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation guidelines, having been diagnosed is an accepted reason for an Australian to not be jabbed, but is understood not to be an approved reason to enter the country unvaccinated.

Djokovic’s exemption was granted on December 30, 20 days after the deadline set by Tennis Australia.

But Mr Tiley said he expected all forms of government to be looking at everything, adding they told players all the information they had at the time.

Despite having the finger pointed at his organisation, Mr Tiley, who has vowed to stay on a chief executive, said he was not going to blame anyone because it had been a challenging environment.

Mr Tiley said Djokovic’s visa cancellation had officials working around the clock, adding he’s like to see the tennis star play at the Australian Open.

He said his core objective was to make the tournament as safe as possible, adding that in September only half of players were vaccinated.

“Today there’s 97 per cent and only really because we required everyone coming into the country to be vaccinated,” he said.

Originally published as Scott Morrison rejects claims that the federal government gave TA conflicting advice on exemptions