Tennis chiefs’ plea to check players’ paperwork rejected by federal department officials

Tennis Australia’s pleas last year for the federal officials to check the paperwork of players heading to the Australian Open were rebuffed.

Tennis Australia officials pleaded with the federal government late last year to check the paperwork of players before they travelled to Melbourne for the Australian Open but were rebuffed by department officials.

New letters have emerged as detained world champion Novak Djokovic prepares to have his case heard on Monday after the Morrison government failed to delay the hearing by two days.

A letter from the Home Affairs Department dated November 16 reveals the sporting body asked if there was “scope for Tennis Australia to work with Health or Home Affairs to provide certificates for review a number of weeks prior to their departure dates”.

But the Sports Department instead advised TA that vaccination certificates would be reviewed only when the traveller checked in, according to correspondence obtained by News Corp.

Reports on Sunday also said Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton advised TA that contracting Covid-19 within six months of travel – Djokovic’s reason – was grounds for an exemption under state border rules but stressed an individual would require proof from a registered medical practitioner.

Professor Sutton’s response to TA was reportedly sent on December 2, less than a week after federal Health Minister Greg Hunt passed on Australian Border Force advice to TA chief executive Craig Tiley that a previous Covid infection was not grounds for an exemption.

Protesters outside Rydges on Swanston as Novak Djokovic battles to be allowed to Australia to play in the Australian Open.. Picture: Josie Hayden

A Victorian Health Department spokesman said “The visa process for entering Australia is entirely a matter for the federal government.”

Mr Tiley said TA had constantly sought clarity on border entry requirements in the lead-up to the Australian Open amid conflicting and contradictory information from different govern­ments, saying he would like to see Djokovic play in the tournament.

“Every single week we were talking to Home Affairs, we were talking to all parts of government to ensure (that) one, we were doing the right thing and the right processes with these exemptions but knowing also that everyone coming in had to be vaccinated,” he told Nine.

Documents filed with the Federal Circuit Court over the weekend confirmed Djokovic’s grounds for exemption are that he tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16 and was therefore unable to receive a vaccine. However, he was photographed on December 17 – the day after his positive result – without a mask at a juniors event held by the Tennis Federation of Serbia and later that day attended Dragisa Misovic Clinical Hospital to mark the hospital’s purchase of a scanner.

Djokovic’s lawyers have further claimed he had also received on January 1 a document from the Department of Home Affairs indicating that his travel declaration had been assessed and that “(his) responses indicate(d) that (he met) the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival” into Australia.

Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley says TA constantly sought clarity on border entry requirements. Picture: AFP

The Australian understands the letter relied on by Djokovic’s lawyers was self-generated on the Australian government travelling app and is not an ironclad guarantee of entry into the country nor validates whether a person has a valid visa or exemption. The travel declaration needs to include evidence of an exemption and is completed separately to a traveller’s visa, which does not cover an individual’s vaccination status.

Djokovic’s travel declaration contained an exemption granted by TA and cleared by the Victorian government instead of a doctor’s certificate, as is usual.

A Home Affairs spokesman said “as the matter is before the court, it is not appropriate to comment at this time”.

Czech doubles player Renata Voracova left Australia on Saturday after the ABF cancelled her visa upon finding she had also claimed to have used the same excuse and exemption as Djokovic.

Voracova did not fight the cancellation because she would not be able to train adequately before the Open. The 38-year-old said she had no issue with vaccines but described conditions at the Park Hotel detention centre in Carlton as “a little like I’m in prison”.

“The men in plain clothes with the police came for me and deported me to the local detention hotel,” she told Czech media.

Djokovic supporters, anti-vaxxers and refugee advocates remained outside the Park Hotel over the weekend.