Victoria Premier says no exemptions for unvaccinated players at 2022 Australian Open, opposes statements made by Australia's PM

Daniel Andrews, the Premier of the State of Victoria, has confirmed that his government will not be applying for an exemption for unvaccinated players planning to compete at the 2022 Australian Open. The State of Victoria is home to Melbourne, which hosts the year's opening Slam.

Andrews' comments mean players will have to be fully vaccinated if they wish to participate in the Australian Open next year. It appears that two weeks of quarantine for unvaccinated players, as suggested in a recent letter issued by the WTA to its players, will not be considered a viable option by the Victorian government.

“I want to be very clear with every Victorian, my government won’t be applying for an exemption for any unvaccinated player (to compete at the Australian Open),” Andrews was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Andrews' statement comes in stark contrast to recent comments made by Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison, who said unvaccinated players would be permitted to enter the country.

Australia's Immigration Minister Alex Hawke recently declared that unvaccinated players would not be granted visas into the country. However, in a recent conversation with Sunrise, Scott Morrison dismissed that notion, pointing out how the same set of rules must apply to everyone who enters the country, including himself.

“The same rules have to apply to everyone,” Scott Morrison told Sunrise. “If I wasn’t double vaccinated when I got home from Glasgow I’d be doing two weeks of quarantine in Sydney. The same rules apply to everyone, whether you’re a Grand Slam winner, a prime minister, a business traveller, a student or whoever. Same rules."

Morrison, however, confirmed that states would be setting quarantine rules and not the federal government.

“The states will set the rules about quarantine, as they are,” he added.

The Prime Minister was then asked if his statement meant that unvaccinated players could come into the country and take part in the 2022 Australian Open.

Scott Morrison at the 2019 Australian Open

In response, Morrison said: “Correct. That’s the rule that applies where they have those arrangements,” he added.

Daniel Andrews, on the other hand, appeared adamant that unvaccinated players will not be given an exemption in his state. He even went as far as to declare the matter "resolved."

"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," the Premier of Victoria said. "We’re not going to be applying an exemption. Therefore the issue is basically resolved.”

It remains to be seen how the latest regulations will impact players hoping to compete at the Australian Open next year. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev have both kept their vaccination status private.

Djokovic has repeatedly voiced his concerns against mandatory vaccinations and recently said he was unsure about defending his title in Melbourne. The Serb has also spoken out against strict quarantine regulations enforced in the previous edition of the Australian Open.

"Their position has gone 180 degrees" - Daniel Andrews hits out at federal government as Australian Open debate rages on

Daniel Andrews also hit out at the federal government in the wake of comments made by Scott Morrison and Alex Hawke.

As mentioned before, Hawke had declared that unvaccinated players would not be granted a visa into the country. Andrews explained that Hawke's statement made him feel that he and the federal government shared a similar viewpoint with regards to the Australian Open.

But following Morrison's comments, Andrews believes the federal government has done a spectacular backflip.

“I was perfectly supportive of minister Hawke’s view, which I took to be the view of the federal government and it appears that is not the case,” Andrews said.

“The federal government manages the border and to the extent that anything the federal government says on this is clear, because their position has gone 180 [degrees] from what the immigration minister said, which at the time, I agreed with," he added.

Andrews reiterated that his government has no intention of applying for an exemption for unvaccinated players at the Australian Open.

“I am not intending to control the borders, we do not … We will host the event but we will not be applying for an exemption for unvaccinated players to come here," Andrews added. "And that is the only fair thing to do. We have all achieved amazing things.”