Tennis star's deportation exposes Australian border debate

Some have been detained in hotels for more than two years, Rintoul, the refugee advocate, said.For almost two years following the start of the pandemic, thousands of overseas Australians were refused permission to return home to go to relatives’ death beds, funerals, weddings and to be introduced to newborn family members.Considered cruel by many, the travel ban kept Australia’s pandemic death toll down and was supported by a majority of Australians.But a relaxation of travel restrictions a month ago because of high vaccination levels and the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant have resulted in Australia recording as many coronavirus infections in the first weeks of 2022 as it tallied in the previous two years of the pandemic.Morrison has laid the blame for Djokovic’s ill-fated Australian trip squarely on the tennis star.But opposition spokesperson Kristina Keneally said there was no excuse for the government issuing a visa in the first place for “a known anti-vax proponent.” “This has been a monumental bungle at our borders by the Morrison government.