‘He was lying’: Qld attacks Dutton over Tom Hanks’ entry

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles has accused Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton of lying about how Hollywood star Tom Hanks entered Australia to film a movie. The row started because the actor was granted an exemption from Queensland’s strict border rules and entered the state from America on Tuesday night.
Hanks has already contracted COVID-19 in Queensland, when he was filming a movie there in March.
The American star along with 11 family, staff, cast and crew were allowed entry into Queensland last week to allow the filming of an Elvis Presley biopic, directed by Baz Luhrmann, to continue.
That didn’t sit well with Mr Dutton, who attacked the Queensland government on Friday.
“If you are Tom Hanks from California, you are OK,” he said.
“If you are Tom Hanks from Chermside or Castle Hill, sorry, you are not coming in, even to your brother’s funeral or your dying daughter.
“It is just unacceptable.”
But Steven Miles hit back on Saturday, saying it was Peter Dutton – the federal minister responsible for borders – who had allowed Hanks’ entry.
“Non-residents coming to Australia need to be permitted to come here by Border Force,” he said.
“And what that means is that when Peter Dutton launched that extraordinary attack during the week, he was lying.
“He was saying that it was us that let Tom Hanks in, when in fact it was him and his own department that let Tom Hanks in.
“I think Peter Dutton owes our Premier and our chief health officer an apology.”
Tom Hanks and the overseas’ cast and crew members are now in hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast at their own expense.
Hanks plays Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, in the big-budget movie scheduled for release in 2021.