Border Force reviewing visa of British commentator Katie Hopkins after boasts of breaking quarantine rules
The Home Affairs minister has directed Border Force to “urgently review” the visa of British right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins, who elaborately boasted about breaking hotel quarantine rules on social media. The media personality is quarantining in a Sydney hotel ahead of a speculated role in the upcoming season of Celebrity Big Brother, broadcast by the Seven Network.
On Saturday morning, she told Instagram followers that she had been trying to defy restrictions in her hotel by answering her door naked and without a face mask. “The police officer who checked me in told me when they knock on my door, I have to wait 30 seconds ’til I can open the door. Then I can open the door, but only if I wear a face mask,” she said in a now-deleted Instagram video. “I want the sergeant in the foyer to come up and tell me off so that I can stand there naked while he tells me off!”
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he had no issue deporting Ms. Hopkins if she was found to have broken infection control rules. “I’m the one who wanted to send home Johnny Depp’s dog, so I have no problem sending home someone who wants to flout our laws,” he told ABC.
“If you want to do that, pack your bongo and leave the country!”
During the lengthy video on Saturday morning, she railed against the New South Wales and Victorian Premiers and labeled lockdowns “the greatest hoax in human history”.
“They are trying to take everything from you, and one of the very best and most powerful weapons we have is a sense of humor, and someone like me is probably a massive thorn in their sides,” she said.
Her arrival in the country comes as thousands of Australians remain stranded overseas following the tightening of the international arrivals cap.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Giles labeled Ms. Hopkin’s comments “grossly disrespectful to frontline workers who are only trying to keep us safe”.
“Scott Morrisons, border security controls, have again been exposed following his government’s decision to allow a far-right troll into Australia, who is now boasting about her efforts to breach hotel quarantine rules,” he said
