British conservative commentator Katie Hopkins will be deported back to the UK following her comments on social media that she breached Australia’s quarantine rules while in Sydney.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews, confirmed the decision on July 19, adding that Hopkins’ actions were “unacceptable” given the current state of lockdown across Australian states.
“We will be getting her out of the country as soon as we can possibly arrange that, so I’m hopeful that it will happen imminently.”
In her now deleted post that was uploaded on Instagram on July 17, Hopkins criticised Australia’s response to the pandemic, saying that lockdowns were “the biggest hoax of all time.” She also detailed how she broke hotel quarantine rules by opening her door to workers “naked with no face mask.”
Quarantine rules require Hopkins to wear a mask and wait 30 seconds before opening the door for food deliveries.
In response, Hopkins said she never broke quarantine rules.
Hopkins was due to appear as a contestant or “housemate” on Channel Seven’s Big Brother, and was granted a travel exemption from the NSW state government on the basis of “potential benefit to the economy,” Andrews said.
Big Brother—a reality game show where contestants live in a monitored house isolated from the outside world—received an exemption to bring in offshore contestants with the support of the NSW state government.
However, Channel Seven decided to terminate Hopkins’ Big Brother contract following public outrage over her now deleted video post.
“Seven Network and Endemol Shine Australia confirm that Katie Hopkins is not part of Big Brother VIP,” a Channel Seven spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “Seven and Endemol Shine strongly condemn her irresponsible and reckless comments in hotel quarantine.”
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said all visa holders who are in Australia during a pandemic are expected to abide by all public health directives issued by both Commonwealth and state and territory governments.
“A breach of these directions is considered a potential risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community,” the spokesperson said, adding that the Australian Border Force can issue warnings, cancel visas, and remove non-citizens “in more serious cases.”
This comes as the number of international arrivals coming into Australia via commercial flights was halved from July 14. Meanwhile, Sydney and Melbourne are in lockdown as concerns grow over a rise in case numbers of the Delta variant of the CCP virus.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Australian Border Force and Katie Hopkins for comment on the news but had not received any in time for publication.
