What Really Happened with Novak Djokovic?
by David Robertson, theweeflea:
[…] In order to get the wider picture, it is important to get the facts right – and not just rely on the memes and titbits we pick up from social media.
The Story So Far
In summary Novak Djokovic, who refuses to reveal his vaccination status, wanted to come and defend his Australian Open tennis title. In order to come to Australia, you have to have been double vaccinated, however there are exemptions. Djokovic applied for one, and after two independent panels met, they ruled he should be given one. Tennis Australia and the Victorian government agreed – and so the Federal government granted him a visa. Djokovic was delighted and made the mistake of tweeting his delight. There was political pushback in Australia and the usual outrage from the Twittering classes. Scott Morrison and the Australian government, who had granted the visa, then started making noises about the documentation and lo and behold, when Djokovic arrived at Melbourne airport, he was detained, and his visa was cancelled. At the beginning of last week, he challenged this and won his court case. But the Australian immigration minister, Alan Hawke, has the arbitrary power to throw people out of the country whenever he wants – if he deems they are somehow a threat to the country. He took four days until at 6pm on Friday he decided to revoke Djokovic’s visa again – this time on “health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”. Djokovic appealed and the Federal Court on Sunday rejected his appeal – and so after ten days the reigning champion has gone home. He has behaved with a degree of dignity which his self-righteous accusers would do well to emulate.
So what does this all this mean?
The Non-Reasons
To be clear this decision was not made because Djokovic lied, or because he is arrogant, or because he tried to cheat the system, or because he is rich. It has nothing to do with him moving house to Spain or speaking at an event in Serbia after contracting Covid. These are the reasons I have heard many people, including Christians, say why they support Djokovic’s ban. But these are completely irrelevant – as is the ‘well, I don’t like him’ one. Why? Because the government said so. They said that Djokovic did not lie on his form, that he did not seek to game the system. They have given their reasons and we should believe them. Or should we?
A Health Risk to Australians?
It is hard to take seriously a government that takes four days to argue that one of the fittest athletes in the world is a health risk to Australians – this in a country where two-thirds of adults are obese or overweight! Given that there were one million cases of Covid in Australia in the past ten days, it is hard to argue that someone who doesn’t have Covid is going to be some kind of existential threat.
Read also: Novak Djokovic: thoughtcriminal by Tom Slater, spiked
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