MOSCOW, Jan 14Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said tennis player Novak Djokovic's visa has been canceled to protect everything that «Australians have sacrificed during the COVID-19 pandemic.» Australians have sacrificed a lot during this pandemic and they rightly expect the results of those sacrifices to be protected,” Morrison said in a statement posted on his website. According to him, this is exactly what Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke did. As previously reported, Hawke revoked Djokovic's visa after an Australian court ruled that it was unjustified to revoke an athlete's visa upon his arrival in Australia. Praising his government for efforts to contain COVID-19 and citing low mortality, economic resilience and the world's highest vaccination rate , the Prime Minister said that «a strong border protection policy has always protected the safety of Australians, both before COVID and now during the pandemic.» At the same time, attempts by the Australian authorities to expel a Serbian tennis player who was not vaccinated against COVID-19 drew criticism from the authorities from the opposition, as reports the Australian television channel ABC.According to him, the treasurer of the «shadow» Cabinet Jim Chamlerz said that the Djokovic visa saga «throws in the trash» the international reputation of Australia. «Our position was clear from the beginning. If he doesn't meet the visa requirements, then he shouldn't have been given a visa at the very beginning,» said Chamlerz. postponement of the decision on the fate of Djokovic. The first racket of the world arrived in Australia on the night of January 6 and was placed in the «Park Hotel» in Melbourne along with refugees, some of whom have been there for 9 years. The Immigration Service has not been convinced by the reasons why Djokovic, who allegedly had COVID-19 in December, has not been vaccinated. Four days later, Djokovic was released by court order, but on Friday, the Minister of Immigration decided to re-revoke the athlete's visa «in the public interest.» According to Australian media, in addition to Djokovic, several more unvaccinated Australian Open participants left Australia, although they were allowed into the country as an exception even before his arrival.
