A decision on whether Novak Djokovic will be able to stay in the country to play in the Australian Open is expected today.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has been considering whether to cancel Djokovic's visa on the grounds that prior infection to COVID-19 in the past six months is not a valid exemption for vaccination, despite a court decision permitting him to stay in the country.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has hit out at the Federal Government over the visa controversy, claiming he should not have been permitted to travel to Australia in the first place.
LIVE UPDATES: 'Most' thought unvaccinated Djokovic 'would be asked to leave'
"Australia has a policy of not allowing unvaccinated people into Australia," Mr Albanese told Today.
"It is beyond my comprehension how we have got to this point.
"It should have been resolved at the point in which a visa was applied for."
Speaking to Today, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce insisted the same rules must apply to Djokovic.
Mr Joyce said he would not attempt to pre-empt Mr Hawke's decision – but he made his own views clear.
"Obviously most of us thought because Mr Djokovic hadn't been vaxxed twice, he'd be asked to leave," he told Today.
"The vast majority of Australians didn't like the idea that another individual, whether they're a tennis player or the King of Spain or the Queen of England, can come up here and have a different set of rules to what everybody else has to deal with.
"Whether they agree with the rules or not, they believe they should abide by the rules, and that was the issue with Novak Djokovic."
Officials are separately investigating errors on his immigration form, which Djokovic described as "human error".
READ MORE: Djokovic blames immigration form error on support team
The tennis star yesterday also apologised for taking part in a media interview on December 18 after knowingly testing positive to COVID-19 the day prior, in a breach of Serbian isolation requirements.
He said he did not know of his positive diagnosis when he attended a tennis event earlier on December 17, and that attending the photoshoot was an "error of judgement".
"I felt obliged to go ahead and conduct the L'Equipe interview as I didn't want to let the journalist down, but did ensure I socially distanced and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken," Djokovic said in a statement.
"While I went home after the interview to isolate for the required period, on reflection, this was an error of judgment and I accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment."
Spanish media has reported Djokovic is under investigation for a potential breach in entering that country while unvaccinated last month, meaning the tennis star is under scrutiny from authorities in three countries – Spain, Serbia and Australia.
