Djokovic welcome but Russians should be banned, says former Liberal sports minister

Former Liberal sports minister Richard Colbeck has taken aim at Tennis Australia for listening to the wrong advice about Novak Djokovic’s entry to the country a year ago, and has also called for the Australian Open to reverse its decision to allow Russians to play in the tournament.

The senior Coalition member, who was sports minister at the time of Djokovic’s deportation, welcomed the former world No.1’s return to Australia this week, but said the rules had been clear last year about unvaccinated foreigners seeking visas, and the entry requirements were spelt out to Australian Open organisers.

Novak Djokovic arrived in Australia this week.Credit:Getty

Nine-time Australian Open champion Djokovic quietly entered Australia late on Tuesday, landing in Adelaide for an Australian Open lead-up event, starting on Sunday. His return contrasted to the events of nearly 12 months ago when he flagged his arrival to Australia by posting to social media that he had “exemption permission”, and was then detained at Melbourne Airport after touchdown 24 hours later.

Djokovic has come back for the 2023 tournament to renew his chase for a 10th Australian Open title after Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, a member of the new federal Labor government, last month overturned an automatic three-year ban that came with Djokovic’s visa being cancelled in January.

Colbeck said in an interview he had numerous discussions with Tennis Australia before the 2022 Australian Open about bringing players in to the country, but event organisers chose to listen to others.

“I understand they wanted the world No.1 [player] here. There’s no hard feelings, but they ended up taking the wrong advice,” Colbeck said. “Tennis Australia decided to follow advice from the Victorian CHO [chief health officer] and the panel he set up rather than the letter [the then health minister] Greg Hunt sent them regarding vaccination.

Former federal sports minister Richard Colbeck.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“And once he [Djokovic] arrived everyone ran away at a million miles an hour.”

However, Australian Open chief Craig Tiley told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that the environment at the time had been hard to navigate.

“The thing that’s really important to note is, did we as an organisation … do everything we possibly could to follow the rules, and the ever-changing environment, which was a very volatile one at the time? Absolutely we did,” he said.

“When we talk about Novak – would we have preferred that what happened, didn’t happen? Absolutely.”

Australian Open chief Craig Tiley.Credit:Eddie Jim

Tiley did not respond to Colbeck’s criticism: “No. We’ve moved on. We’ve moved on to delivering [the] 2023 [tournament]. Everyone’s moved on, Novak’s moved on. We’ve moved on. Everyone’s moved on. The government’s changed.”

Australian Open organisers conduct a detailed review each year focusing on all facets of the two-week tournament, and Tiley said on Friday part of the debrief looked forward.

“So the extent of our debrief is really looking forward with what we’re going to do because you can’t change what’s happened in the past,” he said.

Djokovic said on Thursday his detention and deportation was “one of these things that stay with you for the rest of your life. It is a valuable life experience … but I have to move on”.

Former Liberal MP and Australian tennis great John Alexander said it was great news that Djokovic had returned to Australia to play.

“He’s won the tournament … nine times. It was very unfortunate, all of this banning people from entering the country, from a sporting point of view it was terribly bad luck,” he said.

“He’s paid an enormous price for his strong beliefs, don’t forget he was also denied the opportunity to play at the US Open [this] year too.”

Alexander, who is returning to the commentary box after retiring from federal politics, said he didn’t want rehash the politics of the decision to deport Djokovic.

Colbeck said he had no problem with Djokovic being able to enter Australia now given the vastly different circumstances.

“I don’t have a problem with that as it is a different time today to 12 months ago. The decision I question now is letting [Daniil] Medvedev play,” he said. “I don’t reckon any of them [Russian players] should be playing.”

Russian and Belarussian players were this year controversially banned at Wimbledon after fears from tournament organisers that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use scenes of successful players from those nations as a form of propaganda. Amid significant unrest in tennis, Wimbledon was consequently stripped of rankings points.

Teams from Russia and Belarus were banned from the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams tournaments, as well as the new United Cup, a mixed-gender event that has launched the Australian tennis summer.

Tiley made it clear in October that Russian players were welcome at Melbourne Park, but they could not overtly represent Russia.

“They cannot participate in any activity such as the anthem of Russia and they have to play as independent players under a neutral name,” he said.

Colbeck said he had studied the history of the bans on cricket teams playing in South Africa during the apartheid era, and believed sports such as tennis should send a message to the Russian people over the invasion of Ukraine.

“Sport is one of those things that can send a message to a country. I’ve had that view for a long time. We can’t soften our stance on this stuff. The Russians are still doing outrageous things. I congratulate Wimbledon on the stance they took,” Colbeck said.

The Albanese government has said it won’t block Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing in the Australian Open and other major sporting events, but their flags and anthems will be banned and the players will compete under a neutral flag.

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