Katie Hopkins arrived in Australia last week and has been widely reported to be joining the next season of Big Brother. She has since attracted criticism for her hotel quarantine antics, including deliberately opening her door to workers delivering her food naked.Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said she has asked the Australian Border Force to see whether there had been any breaches in Sydney’s hotel quarantine. “It is despicable that anyone would behave in such a way that puts our health officials and community at risk,” Ms Andrews said. “I have directed Australian Border Force to immediately consider the facts of this matter and urgently review whether this individual is complying with the requirements of her visa.”Hopkins had her Twitter account permanently suspended in June last year for violating the social media giant’s ‘hateful conduct’ policy, she was also detained in South Africa in March 2018 for allegedly spreading racial hatred.Among her rants she has likened Covid-19 to the flu, compared migrants to cockroaches and said people with dementia should not block hospital beds. Most recently, she told her Instagram followers she was refusing to wear a mask while opening the door in hotel quarantine in Sydney. News.com.au asked Seven whether Ms Hopkins was still slated to appear on Big Brother VIP, whether the network is paying for her stay in hotel quarantine and whether the network thought it was responsible to have Ms Hopkins on air. The network’s external public relations co-ordinator Shoebridge Knowles Media Group director Neil Shoebridge refused to address the questions on Sunday morning.“We are not commenting on speculation about the cast of Big Brother VIP,” he said. Victorian MP Andre Giles was one of the first to take aim at the government for allowing Ms Hopkins into the country.“Now that Ms Hopkins is in Australia, she has begun broadcasting from what she described as “VIP quarantine”, and has explained how she is opening up her hotel door naked without a face mask in a deliberate attempt to breach hotel quarantine security,” he said. “This is grossly disrespectful to frontline workers who are only trying to keep up safe.”Her arrival comes just weeks after the Federal Government announced a reduction in the number of overseas travellers arriving to Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison slashed the numbers to reduce pressure on quarantine facilities amid the Delta variant outbreak.The Department of Home Affairs was contacted by news.com.au on Sunday morning to see whether Ms Hopkins was included in the tally of overseas arrivals. At the time of publishing, they had not responded. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce made it clear that if Ms Hopkins broke the rules of hotel quarantine he would not be fazed in kicking her out of the country. “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. If you want to do that, pack your bongo and get out of the country,” he told the ABC.
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