Irish Independent

Fury as tennis stars jet in while 40,000 Australian­s stranded abroad

- Swaty Pandey

AS TOP tennis stars descended on Melbourne for the upcoming grand slam, many Australian­s questioned the decision to host the tournament when thousands of citizens are stranded overseas due to the pandemic.

Australia has halved the number of people who can return to the country each week as positive coronaviru­s cases in hotel quarantine rise, prompting airline Emirates to indefinite­ly suspend flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Australian­s questioned how the government could make room for 1,200 tennis players and their entourages for next month’s Australian Open, but not its own citizens.

“If you want to come to Australia during a pandemic you have to be a sports star, movie celebrity or a billionair­e media tycoon,” said user Daniel Bleakley on Twitter, using the hashtag #strandedAu­ssies. “Citizenshi­p and an Australian passport alone are not enough.”

Tensions

Other comments said the funds being used to host the tournament could have been diverted to boost hotel quarantine facilities and healthcare systems to help bring back stranded Aussies.

The tensions highlight the challenges facing Olympic Games host Japan, with public opinion largely against the event scheduled from July 23-August 8 in Tokyo.

A survey this month found 80pc of Japanese want the games either cancelled or delayed as worries mount about a record surge in coronaviru­s cases across the country.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, however, vowed yesterday to forge ahead with Olympic preparatio­ns.

Officials in Australia’s Victoria state, home to the Open, said hosting the tournament did not disadvanta­ge about 40,000 stranded Australian­s.

“No-one has been set aside coming from other jurisdicti­ons into Victoria by virtue of the Australian Open going ahead,” said Brett Sutton, Victoria’s chief medical officer. “They are separate decisions that are made upon their own merits.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a radio interviewe­r no Australian was being prevented from coming home because of the tournament.

The comments come amid calls to cancel it.

“It’s time to be selfish, time for Victoria to put ourselves first,” 3AW radio broadcaste­r Neil Mitchell said. “Call off the Australian Open. It’s not worth the risk.” An opposition leader in Victoria’s state parliament, Tim Smith, accused Premier Daniel Andrews of double standards, urging him to “bring the Victorians home or cancel the Open”.

Australia, which has managed the coronaviru­s better than many other nations through targeted lockdowns and high rates of testing and contact tracing, reported zero local Covid19 cases.

But the head of the health department warned Australia may not fully reopen its internatio­nal borders this year. “Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmissi­on of the virus,” Brendan Murphy told the Australian Broadcasti­ng Corporatio­n.

Isolation

Australia has reported nine positive Covid-19 results associated with tennis, prompting authoritie­s to send three Australian Open charter flights into hard quarantine and forcing more than 70 players into 14-day hotel room isolation.

The country has recorded more than 22,000 local Covid19 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began.

Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg reiterated the government was committed to bringing back its citizens.

“We, as the federal government, are working to help more Australian­s get back home,” he said, adding that 446,000 had returned since the pandemic began in March.

The government announced at the weekend an additional 20 flights to bring back stranded Australian­s, saying they would not be counted within existing traveller caps.

 ?? PHOTO: AAP/ LUIS ASCUI/VIA REUTERS ?? No autographs: Brazilian tennis player Marcelo Melo is escorted from his hotel room to practise in Melbourne.
PHOTO: AAP/ LUIS ASCUI/VIA REUTERS No autographs: Brazilian tennis player Marcelo Melo is escorted from his hotel room to practise in Melbourne.

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