Novak Djokovic's Vaccine Stance & Visa Troubles

[Sundaymorningguy]

I know you and Moxie were worried, but the burden of proof was on Djoke's team to refute why he wasn't a public threat and should have his visa reinstated. There were many points the government could have argued, but I think they stuck w/ the one that would be hard for the judges to disagree with. After getting bested by Djoke's lawyers on a loophole the first time around, I can see why they might want to steer clear of the inconsistencies in his visa app. The lawyers might have found a way around that since he didn't actually fill out the form himself. I feel they chose the best defense as it would be hard to say he isn't a public health threat, when out of his own mouth he admitted to doing things that weren't in the best interest of public safety.

It’s not that I didn’t necessarily agree with what the government was saying in their argument. He just came across so unsure in his arguments at times.

 

[10isfan]

If one day Djoke regains sanity, he’ll regret everything he did these last several weeks. A few people in that Serbian lab that provided the positive test result stand to become millionaires by blackmailing him (if the result were manufactured). That’s just one problem of many that he would have to address.

I feel sorry for him that he’s never going to get a fraction of the love heaped on Federer and Nadal no matter how many records he shatters, that he has crazy parents who must have built up his ego beyond a reasonable level, that he has to live with the knowledge that he has tainted his legacy forever. The list goes on.

 

[rafanoy1992]

I am curious to see if the judges implemented the three year ban.

Personally, they should not implemented the 3 year ban on him. Him getting deported this year is good enough decision.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

With Novak's deportation I wonder how his many sponsors will react?

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I am curious to see if the judges implemented the three year ban.

Personally, they should not implemented the 3 year ban on him. Him getting deported this year is good enough decision.

From what I read the 3 year ban is automatic,though it can be appealed

 

[rafanoy1992]

From what I read the 3 year ban is automatic,though it can be appealed

Ah okay, yeah that will be definitely be waived whether Djokovic is vaccinated or not.

 

[10isfan]

Don’t you think the ban will be upheld to circumvent another circus, assuming the vaccination requirement in still in effect and he has not taken a shot?

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Don’t you think the ban will be upheld to circumvent another circus, assuming the vaccination requirement in still in effect and he has not taken a shot?

Well will have to await to see if they appeal or not.You think it should be enforced?

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Well will have to await to see if they appeal or not.You think it should be enforced?

I also think we will get a clearer picture when we can read why the 3 judges handed down their verdict,which can be read later today I believe.Alex Hawke commended the 3 judges on their verdict.pleased with the outcome.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

It will be interesting to see how this impacts his season. Does this throw him off initially or does this make him more determined this year? Is he in for more legal fights this year depending on where he tries to play?

 

[MikeOne]

If one day Djoke regains sanity, he’ll regret everything he did these last several weeks. A few people in that Serbian lab that provided the positive test result stand to become millionaires by blackmailing him (if the result were manufactured). That’s just one problem of many that he would have to address.

I feel sorry for him that he’s never going to get a fraction of the love heaped on Federer and Nadal no matter how many records he shatters, that he has crazy parents who must have built up his ego beyond a reasonable level, that he has to live with the knowledge that he has tainted his legacy forever. The list goes on.

Garbage…. Making stuff up here about falsified pcr test

and no-one will give a sht about any of this down the road, if anything, more and more are realizing what a f’up this was by australian government and this may even garner him more support.

i see many now coming out in defense of djoker but some were cowards who were afraid of the totalitarian regime in australia and media mob.

and no-one will care about this years from now, novak will be goat… and that’s what will matter

 

[Jelenafan]

We are practically two years into a COVID world, and anyone who claims they had no idea that that is a politically and socially charged subject to the nth degree so that Novak’s team risky strategy could blow up in their faces is naïveté personified.

Djokovic and his team calculated that his #1 status would allow him to play in a high profile tournament in a country with some of the strictest COVID protocols in the world despite despite being virtually the only top player not vaccinated . Did I mention we are nearly 2 years into this? Did we mention he is the #1 player with perhaps the largest public profile? Did we mentions he’s already been in the firestorm of a previous COVID controversy( the COVID tour)? Surely they were intelligent enough to know all possible outcomes of their strategy. If they had succeeded it would have been a master stroke of planning and they very *nearly* did.

But they didn’t.

Again no victims here. No innocent “pawn” of nefarious forces conspiring against him.

By the same stance, what are all politicians if not influenced by public opinion and trying to salvage if not advance their own agendas? To accuse anyone at this late date with pearl clutching horror of trying to “politicize” any particular issue is maybe like six thousand years of written history too late.

Again, Into this quagmire Djokovic was willing to take a calculated high risk game and he lost. It happens. The logical conclusion if you are one for sticking to your convictions is that Djokovic was willing to sacrifice his tennis for his anti vaccine position. His personal stance is not necessarily wrong for “him”, that’s his call.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

With Novak's deportation I wonder how his many sponsors will react?

He is refusing to be vaccinated and he broke Covid rules when he went out and saw people after being positive. Anyone else would lose sponsors so let’s see.

 

[rafanoy1992]

It will be interesting to see how this impacts his season. Does this throw him off initially or does this make him more determined this year? Is he in for more legal fights this year depending on where he tries to play?

To be honest, he will be fine. I don't think it will change the way he will play this year. As for the legal fights, that's up to the tournament and country. Let's just hope other countries don't fumble the situation like Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia did...

 

[Kieran]

We are practically two years into a COVID world, and anyone who claims they had no idea that that is a politically and socially charged subject to the nth degree so that Novak’s team risky strategy could blow up in their faces is naïveté personified.

Djokovic and his team calculated that his #1 status would allow him to play in a high profile tournament in a country with some of the strictest COVID protocols in the world despite despite being virtually the only top player not vaccinated . Did I mention we are nearly 2 years into this? Did we mention he is the #1 player with perhaps the largest public profile? Did we mentions he’s already been in the firestorm of a previous COVID controversy( the COVID tour)? Surely they were intelligent enough to know all possible outcomes of their strategy. If they had succeeded it would have been a master stroke of planning and they very *nearly* did.

But they didn’t.

Again no victims here. No innocent “pawn” of nefarious forces conspiring against him.

By the same stance, what are all politicians if not influenced by public opinion and trying to salvage if not advance their own agendas? To accuse anyone at this late date with pearl clutching horror of trying to “politicize” any particular issue is maybe like six thousand years of written history too late.

Again, Into this quagmire Djokovic was willing to take a calculated high risk game and he lost. It happens. The logical conclusion if you are one for sticking to your convictions is that Djokovic was willing to sacrifice his tennis for his anti vaccine position. His personal stance is not necessarily wrong for “him”, that’s his call.

Totally agree, and well said. To this I would make a slight rearrangement to your words that also holds true: that Novak was also willing to sacrifice his principles regarding the vaccine for his tennis. In either reading of this, the contradictions can’t be squared, and all the high priced lawyers in the world couldn’t rescue him…

 

[MikeOne]

As more time passes people will realize what a disgrace australia has been here. Already 1 day after, many more supporting djokovic

1. tennis australia and victorian government gave him medical exemption. He followed their rules
2. He flies in and federeal goverment cancels visa, without proper due process.
3. a judge reverses the visa cancellation citing lack of due process
4. Minister cancels visa again but admits medical exemption was valid. So government admita canceling visa in first place, on these grounds was invalid. This means they admit they created this fiasco in the first place
5. The ‘new’ reason cited is that nole is an anti-vaxxer and as a high profile public figure, could be some sort of threat to public order

It’s truly a disgrace in highest order, all political in order for government to save face given their incompetence and failures handling covid in recent months

in many ways, djoker comes out a winner here.. and more and more will defend him as more facts come out. Backfire

unfortanetly, he gets to miss AO but he will break the records, he is the goat and no-one will stop him

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

From the Federal Court,
We can read their verdict in the coming days,which makes sense seeing the court case was heard on a Sunday.

 

[Nadalfan2013]

As more time passes people will realize what a disgrace australia has been here. Already 1 day after, many more supporting djokovic

1. tennis australia and victorian government gave him medical exemption. He followed their rules
2. He flies in and federeal goverment cancels visa, without proper due process.
3. a judge reverses the visa cancellation citing lack of due process
4. Minister cancels visa again but admits medical exemption was valid. So government admita canceling visa in first place, on these grounds was invalid. This means they admit they created this fiasco in the first place
5. The ‘new’ reason cited is that nole is an anti-vaxxer and as a high profile public figure, could be some sort of threat to public order

It’s truly a disgrace in highest order, all political in order for government to save face given their incompetence and failures handling covid in recent months

in many ways, djoker comes out a winner here.. and more and more will defend him as more facts come out. Backfire

unfortanetly, he gets to miss AO but he will break the records, he is the goat and no-one will stop him

yes Djokovic comes out a winner for wanting to be the only unvaccinated player in the AO as if he’s special, choosing water from Energy Pyramids instead of science, not getting vaccinated when the whole planet is fighting together to beat a pandemic and admitting that he knew he had Covid and still went to a photoshoot, interview, etc. Stop embarrassing yourself, he will be lucky to keep his sponsors after this.

 

[MikeOne]

Australia comes out of this, not a winner and more will be shown to have been incompetence. Victorian government, federal government, tennis Australia couldn't coordinate and made Djoker get on a plane, then he was used as a political pawn being the public figure he is.

What's is so stunning is how giverbemn changed positions, admitted Djoker had a valid medical exemption and his visa app error was minor. So let's think here, they created this fiasco by incorrectly cancelling his visa in the first place, not to mention granting it without proper coordination. So they resorted to a stunning rationale to deport him - he's a leader of ant-vac movement and threatens public order. Australia, shame on you.. embarrassing


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-59991291


The Australian government was never going to come out of this saga looking good.

They've been on the back foot ever since Novak Djokovic announced he was coming to defend his Australian Open title.

The decision to cancel Djokovic's visa - after a court previously ruled in his favour - is largely about saving face with Australian voters in an election year.

To achieve this, the government is prepared to endure any diplomatic fallout, international embarrassment and the wrath of Djokovic's supporters.

Throughout the past two weeks, the federal government has been adamant to make a point: no-one is above the rules. Not even the men's world number one.

A simple, straightforward principle. But the way it's been handled has been anything but.

On the afternoon before Djokovic arrived, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the player would "be on the next plane home" if his documents were not in order on arrival in Melbourne.

"Rules are rules," Mr Morrison reiterated when Djokovic's visa was revoked the next day, on 6 January.



When Djokovic challenged the decision, Mr Morrison said it was up to the court.

But suddenly the government's position began to look very shaky as it asked for more time - denied by a judge - to compile its legal case amid questions over federal procedures. It also faced scrutiny over why Djokovic had been allowed to get on a plane in the first place.

The whole thing could have ended when judge Anthony Kelly decided in Djokovic's favour - citing a bungle in the process at Melbourne Airport - and ordered the government to reinstate his visa and get him out of detention.

But it didn't.

The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, had the option to use his executive powers to cancel the visa and deport Djokovic and he did.

A lot has been said about the motivation behind this - mainly that it's political. And it is. The blaring politics is impossible to escape.

There are two things to consider here on the government's front.

First, the deep embarrassment this has caused the Morrison administration. To Australians and indeed to the world, politicians look like they are enforcing rules they themselves don't understand or are unclear about. They also seemed to not talk to each other.

The decision comes as an election is just around the corner for Mr Morrison

One layer of government - the state of Victoria - was making decisions with Tennis Australia, in isolation. Federal officials were saying something entirely different. And the tournament organisers were complaining they'd been caught in between.

The second has to do more with Covid and less with tennis. The mood in the country is one of shock and fury. Australia's two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have been reporting tens of thousands of cases for weeks now.

Testing clinics are still struggling and the number of deaths is also rising. Though it's not at the rate of, say, Europe or the US, this is Australia - a country that imposed some of the strictest Covid rules in the world. A country where, at times, a single case could push a whole city or state into lockdown.

Australians feel abandoned. They feel like things have turned so bad, so quickly. Many also say they've done everything that's been asked of them.

They got vaccinated and are now getting their boosters, But still, the Omicron variant is rampant around them leaving many asking what more they could've done.

Now juxtapose that picture against a tennis star who publicly said he opposed the vaccine and who admitted to breaking isolation rules while Covid positive, and to providing false information on his travel declaration form.

There's also that discrepancy about when he found out he had Covid. He said in his statement that week that he knew on 17 December. But the sworn affidavit he presented to the court said the positive test was confirmed on 16 December.

"If it were you or me," someone said on my Twitter feed, "Would they allow us in after all that?"

The simple answer is no.

There's no doubt that Scott Morrison's government has been bruised by this controversy.

The political tussling between state and federal governments; the breakdown of communication; the opaqueness of which rules apply to whom; an unvaccinated famous athlete that has broken Covid rules. It all makes for a messy picture that politicians have been trying to straighten out.

Given all that we know now, the government would have had a lot more to explain if they didn't cancel Novak Djokovic's visa.

 

[Kieran]

Australia comes out of this, not a winner and more will be shown to have been incompetence. Victorian government, federal government, tennis Australia couldn't coordinate and made Djoker get on a plane, then he was used as a political pawn being the public figure he is.

What's is so stunning is how giverbemn changed positions, admitted Djoker had a valid medical exemption and his visa app error was minor. So let's think here, they created this fiasco by incorrectly cancelling his visa in the first place, not to mention granting it without proper coordination. So they resorted to a stunning rationale to deport him - he's a leader of ant-vac movement and threatens public order. Australia, shame on you.. embarrassing


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-59991291


The Australian government was never going to come out of this saga looking good.

They've been on the back foot ever since Novak Djokovic announced he was coming to defend his Australian Open title.

The decision to cancel Djokovic's visa - after a court previously ruled in his favour - is largely about saving face with Australian voters in an election year.

To achieve this, the government is prepared to endure any diplomatic fallout, international embarrassment and the wrath of Djokovic's supporters.

Throughout the past two weeks, the federal government has been adamant to make a point: no-one is above the rules. Not even the men's world number one.

A simple, straightforward principle. But the way it's been handled has been anything but.

On the afternoon before Djokovic arrived, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the player would "be on the next plane home" if his documents were not in order on arrival in Melbourne.

"Rules are rules," Mr Morrison reiterated when Djokovic's visa was revoked the next day, on 6 January.



When Djokovic challenged the decision, Mr Morrison said it was up to the court.

But suddenly the government's position began to look very shaky as it asked for more time - denied by a judge - to compile its legal case amid questions over federal procedures. It also faced scrutiny over why Djokovic had been allowed to get on a plane in the first place.

The whole thing could have ended when judge Anthony Kelly decided in Djokovic's favour - citing a bungle in the process at Melbourne Airport - and ordered the government to reinstate his visa and get him out of detention.

But it didn't.

The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, had the option to use his executive powers to cancel the visa and deport Djokovic and he did.

A lot has been said about the motivation behind this - mainly that it's political. And it is. The blaring politics is impossible to escape.

There are two things to consider here on the government's front.

First, the deep embarrassment this has caused the Morrison administration. To Australians and indeed to the world, politicians look like they are enforcing rules they themselves don't understand or are unclear about. They also seemed to not talk to each other.

The decision comes as an election is just around the corner for Mr Morrison

One layer of government - the state of Victoria - was making decisions with Tennis Australia, in isolation. Federal officials were saying something entirely different. And the tournament organisers were complaining they'd been caught in between.

The second has to do more with Covid and less with tennis. The mood in the country is one of shock and fury. Australia's two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have been reporting tens of thousands of cases for weeks now.

Testing clinics are still struggling and the number of deaths is also rising. Though it's not at the rate of, say, Europe or the US, this is Australia - a country that imposed some of the strictest Covid rules in the world. A country where, at times, a single case could push a whole city or state into lockdown.

Australians feel abandoned. They feel like things have turned so bad, so quickly. Many also say they've done everything that's been asked of them.

They got vaccinated and are now getting their boosters, But still, the Omicron variant is rampant around them leaving many asking what more they could've done.

Now juxtapose that picture against a tennis star who publicly said he opposed the vaccine and who admitted to breaking isolation rules while Covid positive, and to providing false information on his travel declaration form.

There's also that discrepancy about when he found out he had Covid. He said in his statement that week that he knew on 17 December. But the sworn affidavit he presented to the court said the positive test was confirmed on 16 December.

"If it were you or me," someone said on my Twitter feed, "Would they allow us in after all that?"

The simple answer is no.

There's no doubt that Scott Morrison's government has been bruised by this controversy.

The political tussling between state and federal governments; the breakdown of communication; the opaqueness of which rules apply to whom; an unvaccinated famous athlete that has broken Covid rules. It all makes for a messy picture that politicians have been trying to straighten out.

Given all that we know now, the government would have had a lot more to explain if they didn't cancel Novak Djokovic's visa.

Yes, a very good article, which covers all bases. Importantly, it says this:

Now juxtapose that picture against a tennis star who publicly said he opposed the vaccine and who admitted to breaking isolation rules while Covid positive, and to providing false information on his travel declaration form.

There's also that discrepancy about when he found out he had Covid. He said in his statement that week that he knew on 17 December. But the sworn affidavit he presented to the court said the positive test was confirmed on 16 December.

"If it were you or me," someone said on my Twitter feed, "Would they allow us in after all that?"

The simple answer is no….

Given all that we know now, the government would have had a lot more to explain if they didn't cancel Novak Djokovic's visa.