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The Djokovic Affair

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
I don't think there's already a thread about it, so here goes:

Seems that this is the situation so far:

- Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against COVID, got COVID earlier this year (and did media events unmasked while required to be in quarantine, but that will be an issue for the Serbian authorities to deal with).

- Tennis Australia provided guidance to players and their teams about vaccination requirements for the tournament, which said that people who recently had COVID would be allowed an exemption to the vaccination requirements. This was referring to the state rules that apply to entering the tournament venue.

- Djokovic and his staff misinterpreted TA's guidance as applying to the whole country, not just to the event venue, and applied for a visa (falsifying some important information in the process: Djokovic declared that he hadn't visited any other countries in the previous 14 days, even though he had visited several).

- Djokovic arrives in Australia and tells border officials that he's "exempt" from the vaccine requirements, but this exemption isn't a thing.

- Djokovic's visa is cancelled by the Border Force. He gets detained awaiting deportation.

- Djokovic's lawyers appeal the visa cancellation and manage to secure his release from detention until the appeal is heard.

- just recently, the immigration minister used his ministerial powers to cancel Djokovic's visa a second time. Djokovic has been ordered back into detention.

- a hearing is scheduled for Saturday. In the interim, the immigration minister has been ordered not to deport Djokovic until the hearing.

... and those are the key events in this so far.

Here's the Guardian's update page on the whole mess: https://static.guim.co.uk/images/favicon-32x32.ico

Thoughts?

Personally, I think Australia is doing the right thing by kicking Djokovic out, though it seems like something in the process failed for Djokovic to even have been allowed onto the plane to Australia in the first place.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Personally, I think Australia is doing the right thing by kicking Djokovic out, though it seems like something in the process failed for Djokovic to even have been allowed onto the plane to Australia in the first place.

I agree with you. He should not have been allowed to enter Australia. Personally i think he should be prosecuted for misrepresentation too
 

Suave

Simulated character
I don't think there's already a thread about it, so here goes:

Seems that this is the situation so far:

- Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against COVID, got COVID earlier this year (and did media events unmasked while required to be in quarantine, but that will be an issue for the Serbian authorities to deal with).

- Tennis Australia provided guidance to players and their teams about vaccination requirements for the tournament, which said that people who recently had COVID would be allowed an exemption to the vaccination requirements. This was referring to the state rules that apply to entering the tournament venue.

- Djokovic and his staff misinterpreted TA's guidance as applying to the whole country, not just to the event venue, and applied for a visa (falsifying some important information in the process: Djokovic declared that he hadn't visited any other countries in the previous 14 days, even though he had visited several).

- Djokovic arrives in Australia and tells border officials that he's "exempt" from the vaccine requirements, but this exemption isn't a thing.

- Djokovic's visa is cancelled by the Border Force. He gets detained awaiting deportation.

- Djokovic's lawyers appeal the visa cancellation and manage to secure his release from detention until the appeal is heard.

- just recently, the immigration minister used his ministerial powers to cancel Djokovic's visa a second time. Djokovic has been ordered back into detention.

- a hearing is scheduled for Saturday. In the interim, the immigration minister has been ordered not to deport Djokovic until the hearing.

... and those are the key events in this so far.

Here's the Guardian's update page on the whole mess: https://static.guim.co.uk/images/favicon-32x32.ico

Thoughts?

Personally, I think Australia is doing the right thing by kicking Djokovic out, though it seems like something in the process failed for Djokovic to even have been allowed onto the plane to Australia in the first place.

Did he just have the Omicron mild strain of C.O,V,I,D,-19?

According to the CDC, Omicron is 91 percent less lethal than the Delta strain of C.O.V.I.D.-19, which would mean Omicron is no more deadlier than the seasonal flu. So why all the fuss?

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.11.22269045v1.full.pdf

As predicted by me over a month ago, Most everybody will inevitably catch Omicron, but hardly anybody will die from this most recent predominant generation of the SARS-Cov2. Omicron has ended the worst of the pandemic.
 
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Dawnofhope

Non-Proselytizing Baha'i
Staff member
Premium Member
Personally, I think Australia is doing the right thing by kicking Djokovic out, though it seems like something in the process failed for Djokovic to even have been allowed onto the plane to Australia in the first place.

I personally don't believe Djokovic should have been allowed into Australia in the first place and his presence makes a mockery of vaccination along with other efforts to manage COVID. However, it is now a legal matter and the way we think things ought to be and the way they play out legally can be very different.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Just another example of a celebrity who thinks he knows better than experts in the relevant field. He should have never been allowed into Australia in the first place, but since that ship has already sailed, we can only hope he gets sent back or maybe even faces charges for misrepresenting his status as "exempt."
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
... and now Lacoste, one of Djokovic's sponsors, is "reviewing" what happened at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic sponsor Lacoste to review Australian events 'as soon as possible' | National Post

I think the subtext is that they're reconsidering their sponsorship of Djokovic.

I think this makes sense. Without knowing the specifics of his contract (other than that it was apparently a multi-year deal dating back before the pandemic), I expect that anyone giving him millions of dollars on the assumption that he will be participating in the Grand Slam tennis series would be miffed about continuing to pay him while he's chosen not to enter Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
 

Martin

Spam, wonderful spam (bloody vikings!)
This strikes me as another example of those with wealth/status/privilege thinking that they are above the law/regulations.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
This strikes me as another example of those with wealth/status/privilege thinking that they are above the law/regulations.
Me too.

... though it's also a demonstration of how they are above the law.

There are people who have been sitting in ABF detention for months waiting for their cases to be heard. Djokovic got his case heard right away.

If there really was one standard for everyone, Djokovic would still be detained in a converted hotel in Australia, not sitting in his house in Serbia posting online about how he feels hard-done by.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
Me too.

... though it's also a demonstration of how they are above the law.

There are people who have been sitting in ABF detention for months waiting for their cases to be heard. Djokovic got his case heard right away.

If there really was one standard for everyone, Djokovic would still be detained in a converted hotel in Australia, not sitting in his house in Serbia posting online about how he feels hard-done by.
Just FYI from a local, the Australian federal court released its reasonings for upholding the refusal. It was his anti vaxx connections that stuffed him up
Federal Court releases reasons for Novak Djokovic visa decision - ABC News

More local perspective. At first people on social media (and some news outlets) were claiming that this whole debacle made us look like a joke on the world stage. But at that time all anyone knew was that he “accidentally” messed up on his Visa application and the courts were engaging in their own tennis match (heh)
He was denied then allowed then denied. So it did seem like a dumb semantics game.

Glad to see that such fears were apparently wrong
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Just FYI from a local, the Australian federal court released its reasonings for upholding the refusal. It was his anti vaxx connections that stuffed him up
Federal Court releases reasons for Novak Djokovic visa decision - ABC News
Right... for the ministerial denial of the visa. I think he would have likely ended up having his visa denied based on plain ol' lack of vaccination; the only reason he got released was because his lawyers weren't given enough time to respond. That issue never actually went away.

More local perspective. At first people on social media (and some news outlets) were claiming that this whole debacle made us look like a joke on the world stage. But at that time all anyone knew was that he “accidentally” messed up on his Visa application and the courts were engaging in their own tennis match (heh)
He was denied then allowed then denied. So it did seem like a dumb semantics game.

Glad to see that such fears were apparently wrong
FWIW, this Canadian's perspective is that the incident made Tennis Australia look like a joke by handing out bad advice to players on how Australia's immigration laws work. I don't think the incident reflected badly on the Australian national government or the country as a whole.

The news coverage in Canada never suggested that Djokovic was allowed in; they made it clear that Djokovic was only released from detention while waiting for his hearing, and that he was very likely to have his visa cancelled at that hearing.
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
Right... for the ministerial denial of the visa. I think he would have likely ended up having his visa denied based on plain ol' lack of vaccination; the only reason he got released was because his lawyers weren't given enough time to respond. That issue never actually went away.

Yeah. Some of our legal red tape can be a bit “weird” I think. Usually I’d blame the government yobbos for bureaucracy crap. But in this instance I’ll cut them some slack due to the myriad of issues we’re currently facing. And Djokovic did make the mistake. And allegedly is anti vax. Public safety should be a number one priority right now.
I personally don’t think that’s the case where I live. But that’s for another thread

FWIW, this Canadian's perspective is that the incident made Tennis Australia look like a joke by handing out bad advice to players on how Australia's immigration laws work. I don't think the incident reflected badly on the Australian national government or the country as a whole.

Oh cheers mate

The news coverage in Canada never suggested that Djokovic was allowed in; they made it clear that Djokovic was only released from detention while waiting for his hearing, and that he was very likely to have his visa cancelled at that hearing.
Some of our news said he did make in through only to be denied
But that might have been due to political bias or misinformation, I’m not 100% sure

Apparently he’s going to try to sue the government. Honestly I’d like to see that show
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