Political leader volleys with PM

Australian officials quibbling over vaccination rules

BRISBANE, Australia — The back-and-forth debate over unvaccinated tennis players being allowed to contest the Australian Open in January heightened Wednesday with the prime minister and a state political leader trading shots on points of difference.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated in television interviews that unvaccinated tennis players would be allowed to get exemptions to enter the country provided they undergo two weeks in hotel quarantine.

Victoria state’s Premier Daniel Andrews hit back, telling reporters in Melbourne he wouldn’t be applying for exemptions for unvaccinated players.

Victoria hosts the Australian Open at Melbourne Park and has a mandatory vaccination policy for athletes competing in domestic leagues. The Andrews government has imposed months of lockdowns on the people of Victoria and is only starting to re-open after the public reached high targets for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Morrison’s move Wednesday to clarify his federal government’s stance on the international border came a week after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke suggested there’d be a no-jab, no-visa policy for players at the Jan. 17-30 Grand Slam event.

Morrison said there are exemptions to the longterm international border protection rules for some who qualify under skilled worker or economic benefit criteria.

“If there is a special exemption that is warranted for an economic reason, well, that can happen,” he told Australia’s Nine Network. “But you’ve got to follow the health rules in that state — and two weeks’ quarantine for unvaccinated people, well, that’s sensible.”

Morrison said the ultimate decision on the Australian Open regulations was for the state of Victoria, which has a cap on unvaccinated people arriving.

Andrews put the point beyond doubt.

“What I want to make very clear is that the state of Victoria will not be applying for any exemptions for unvaccinated players … therefore the issue is basically resolved ,” Andrews said, according to the Australian Associated Press. “I am not going to ask and require people sitting in the grandstand, people working at the event to be vaccinated while players aren’t.”