Rappers,deplorables and anti-vaxxers:The people Australia has banned

If Novak Djokovic is deported from Australia on the grounds his anti-vaccination views are dangerous for Australians to hear,he will join a small and ignominious group of people who have either had their visas refused before they arrived,or have been removed from the country over their controversial views or actions.

Katie Hopkins

The outspoken right-wing personality was deported from Australia in June last year,when Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews cancelled her visa because the British citizen boasted in a video about breaching COVID restrictions when she answered the door naked and maskless to guards in hotel quarantine.

Hopkins had been supported by the NSW government in her visa application,which had been approved by the federal government,to work on Channel Ten’sBig Brother television show.

Milo Yiannopoulos

The federal government banned another right-wing darling,Milo Yiannopoulos,on character grounds.

But,after a backlash from Coalition MPs and conservative media commentators,his visa was personally approved by immigration minister David Coleman.

Then Yiannopoulos unwisely published an anti-Islam rant following the Christchurch mosque massacres and the government banned him again,saying the comments fomented hate.

Chelsea Manning

Manning,the former US defence whistleblower who leaked reams of classified and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks then served seven years for the crime,was denied entry in 2018.

She had been about to embark on a speaking tour. The government cited her criminal record and failed her on the “character test”.

David Icke

British conspiracy theorist David Icke,who claims the world is run by shape-shifting aliens and has been accused of Holocaust denial,was refused a visa on character grounds in 2019.

The denial,which came after a strong political campaign by Jewish groups,came only a few hours before his flight was due to depart.

Gavin McInnes

The Canadian founder of right-wing group the Proud Boys was refused on character grounds in 2018 when he tried to come to Australia as part of the “Deplorables” tour.

The Proud Boys group,which subsequently took part in the 2020 attack on the US Capitol building,says it upholds “Western chauvinist values”,and is designated in Canada as a terrorist organisation.

Kent Heckenlively

There is precedent for Australia banning anti-vaccination activists. Heckenlively,the self-described “world’s #1 anti-vaxxer”,was denied a visa by immigration minister Peter Dutton in 2017. Dutton said he did not want the American influencing parents into avoiding vaccination for their children.

Dutton used the same approach that year to Polly Tommey,from Britain,and American Suzanne Humphries,banning them each for three years after they aired a film in Australia that said,wrongly,that vaccines and autism were linked.

Bassem Tamimi

Tamimi,a Palestinian activist,was banned by Dutton from travelling in 2017. The government argued there was a “risk that members of the public will react adversely to Mr Tamimi’s presence in Australia regarding his views of the ongoing political tensions in the Middle East”.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were barred from Australia in 2015 after they failed to declare their dogs,Pistol and Boo,to customs officials. Then-agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanise the pets due to the biosecurity risks.

The couple were later forced into a gritted-teeth video apology.

Snoop Dogg

The rapper was banned from entering the country in 2007 over a string of convictions for drugs and firearms offences.

Immigration minister,Kevin Andrews said the entertainer,who had been due to take part in MTV’s Australian Video Music Awards,“doesn’t seem the sort of bloke we want in this country”.

Eminem

In 2001 several Howard government ministers called for US rapper Eminem to be barred from Australia,but despite a controversial public debate,immigration minister Philip Ruddock approved his visa.

Joe Cocker

Singer Joe Cocker was deported from Australia in 1974 by immigration minister Jim Forbes a few days after the British singer and seven of his touring party were each fined $300 for marijuana possession.

The federal government broadened the so-called character test in the Migration Act in 2014,making visa cancellations mandatory where a non-citizen had a jail term of more than 12 months,causing a spike in deportations. Up to 2020,4700 visas were cancelled on these grounds,seven times the number of deportations in the six years to 2014.

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