Far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins is to be deported from Australia after she boasted on social media that she planned to breach the nation’s COVID-19 quarantine rules, an official said yesterday.
Hopkins traveled to Australia to appear in a reality TV program and was in a 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney before filming was due to start.
Her flight to Australia created outrage after the government last week halved the number of Australian citizens and permanent residents allowed to return home each week to 3,000.
Photo: AP
More than 34,000 Australians who want to return home remain stranded overseas.
Australia’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are under lockdown to contain a COVID-19 outbreak caused by the more contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Australian Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said that Hopkins would be deported after boasting on Instagram her intention to flout quarantine rules.
“It’s appalling that this individual behaved the way that she did and she will be leaving,” Andrews told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We will be getting her out of the country as soon as we can arrange that.”
Hopkins, who has also gained notoriety for her anti-Muslim comments, described pandemic lockdowns as the “greatest hoax in human history.”
In a since-deleted Instagram video from her hotel room, she said that she planned to frighten staff who brought meals to her door by confronting them naked and without a mask.
People in quarantine are not allowed to open their doors until 30 seconds after their meals have been delivered and must wear masks while their doors are open.
Andrews described Hopkins’ comments as shameful.
“The fact that she was out there boasting about breaching quarantine was just appalling,” Andrews said. “It was a slap in the face for all those Australians who are currently in lockdown and it’s just unacceptable behavior.”
Seven Network and Endemol Shine Australia, the production company behind the program Big Brother VIP in which Hopkins was to appear, said that her contract had been canceled.
“Seven and Endemol Shine strongly condemn her irresponsible and reckless comments in hotel quarantine,” they said in a statement.
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