Who is being U, Australia or Novak Djokovic?

[inheritancetrack]

Me, I'm in the you can't have your cake and eat it Novak, camp!

@flipflop76

But covid has over 99% survival rate and for those other diseases you don't have to be jabbed 3 times a year. They haven't eradicated flu...

@flipflop76 It depends on what you mean by 'survival rate'. There is long covid, long term/permanent lung damage, possible nerve damage, and now it looks like it can affect the brain.

FWIW, I am Australian and my mother and I last night had a bit tooooo much wine to celebrate the decision and him being deported last night. Hangovers are rough.

@Migrainesbythedozen

FWIW, I am Australian and my mother and I last night had a bit tooooo much wine to celebrate the decision and him being deported last night. Hangovers are rough.

Good on you both.

I have been a huge Tennis Fan especially of the Men’s Singles Tournaments for at least 14 years and have even been known to bet on a few games but i am totally shocked that the World No 1 thought he could compete in a Tournament and NOT be Vaccinated.?

Millions of people have died from Covid and he thinks he can turn up and compete without being Vaccinated?

His choice not to vaccinate. Australia choice to only admit vaccinated people. He can't have it both ways.

@caringcarer

His choice not to vaccinate. Australia choice to only admit vaccinated people. He can't have it both ways.

He made the Wrong Decision in my opinion.

Yes it’s his choice to Not be Vaccinated but he cannot compete or even travel to countries were a person needs to be Vaccinated to gain entry.He is the same as me and you and not above the LAW of the Country.

What do posters think about the fact he did receive a medical exemption based on information provided by ND (and that has remained unchanged).

ScoMo has now gone on the record to say that he tried to ‘breach Australia’s border rules’, but that’s not the reason Hawke’s deported him for…. I’m not sure what border rule he has actually breached (bar the wrong answer on the Travel Declaration)?

Is someone trying to gloss over the fact that they were happy to quietly let him in in the first place….

He received a medical exemption from Tennis Australia - who is not the Australian Government.

Tennis Australia was informed in writing in November - twice, this was clarified in writing - by the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, that having had a previous covid infection in the last six months was not a valid exemption for entry into the country. They chose to interpret the rules their own way. (And a Covid infection was somehow conveniently rustled up by ND, just in time to meet the deadline that was extended for him by TA.)

Novax then brought attention to himself by proudly sharing on SM that he'd scored a medical exemption, causing Border Force to examine his documents more closely...

All of this could have been avoided if he'd done as the other contestants had done, and got himself vaccinated. Which is condition of entry to Australia.

Wonder why they didn’t use that reason to cancel his visa then?

But ultimately he did what was asked of him by TA to get the exemption.

He had to deal with the TA, who were given the authority by the government to issue medical exemptions. He at no point tried to breach the rules. He just played ball and provided the info they wanted for the exemption. Sure, timings were rather perfect, but rules are rules. Just because the general public thinks it’s a bit fishy, it doesn’t equate to him actually lying.

The fact that the exemption was given erroneously is surely not his fault? And yet ScoMo is happily accusing him of trying to breach Australia’s border rules?

Look, I don’t like people like ND, but I don’t understand how ScoMo can say he was deported because he tried to break the border rules. ND followed the border rules, as per TA’s instructions. All players and support staff had to go through the TA for immigration procedures. It’s not like ND chose them over dealing directly with the government.

Can you tell I can’t stand ScoMo?! I think he’s worse than ND!

ScoMo is like Trump, loves that dog whistle and uses it freely….

ScoMo has now gone on the record to say that he tried to ‘breach Australia’s border rules’, but that’s not the reason Hawke’s deported him for…. I’m not sure what border rule he has actually breached (bar the wrong answer on the Travel Declaration)?

Exactly, they granted the visa to someone who is known to be unvaccinated. I don’t even follow tennis closely and I knew he wasn’t vaccinated. A quick Google search can tell you that. They knew it and for whatever reason, granted the visa anyway. If he lied (and that’s unlikely as it is easily provable) they can put the blame on him, but if not, they made a mistake, or made a choice.

Is someone trying to gloss over the fact that they were happy to quietly let him in in the first place…

Either that or there is a serious hole in the visa system and they want to cover it up. If it is so easy to get in as an unvaccinated person, that’s a worry. They only reason they stopped him was because he tweeted that he got in under the exemption and for Australia, that’s not a good look.

All of this could have been avoided if he'd done as the other contestants had done, and got himself vaccinated.

He filled in the same paperwork as they did.

Which is condition of entry to Australia.

Unless you have an exemption, which he claims he did. Don’t for one minute think that every single person who travels to Australia is vaccinated.

Funny that Australia are being so picky with vaccinated travellers when their own booster rates are really low.

It is up to the visa holder to ensure they fit the country's requirements, and to have the relevant accompanying paperwork. "They" weren't "happy to let him in anyway", as evidenced by his being pulled aside by Border Force when his visa was examined. His medical exemption was not valid.

His medical exemption was not valid

But it’s not like he doctored it himself! It was provided to him by the TA, who were acting on behalf of the Australian government!

TA were not acting on behalf of the Australian government. I think TA gave him bad advice.

This is what I’ve read:

www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/10/novak-djokovic-judge-agitated-by-issue-of-why-australian-government-did-not-accept-tennis-players-medical-exemption

Judge Anthony Kelly said he was “preoccupied” and “somewhat agitated” by the issue of why Australian officials did not accept an exemption document provided by the world No 1 male tennis player from a qualified physician, backed up by an independent Victorian government panel

Tennis Australia has to be apportioned some of the blame for telling players that if they were granted a medical exemption for the tournament they could enter unvaccinated, despite the federal government saying otherwise.

But many players, including Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas, have pointed out they knew they had to be vaccinated to enter Australia, which again moves the blame back to Djokovic.

"He’s been playing by his own rules and has been doing what not many players had the guts to do, especially after the ATP announced certain criteria for players to enter the country," Tsitsipas said earlier in the week.

"No-one really thought they could come to Australia unvaccinated and not have to follow the protocols … it takes a lot of daring to do and putting the grand slam at risk, which I don't think many players would do."

@Blackbird2020

This is what I’ve read:

www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/10/novak-djokovic-judge-agitated-by-issue-of-why-australian-government-did-not-accept-tennis-players-medical-exemption

Judge Anthony Kelly said he was “preoccupied” and “somewhat agitated” by the issue of why Australian officials did not accept an exemption document provided by the world No 1 male tennis player from a qualified physician, backed up by an independent Victorian government panel

Wasn't that the judge in the first appeal hearing (which he won)?

Absolutely agree with you, he had a big part to play in this…

But…. what actually happened behind the scenes between TA, the 2 medical boards, the state government and the federal government, that ended up with 5 players / support staff being provided with medical exemptions based on a previous Covid infection, when this is apparently not an acceptable reason for a medical exemption.

I’d very much like to know what was going on….

It very much looks like Australia has big sign that reads ‘Only Vaccinated’ on the front door, with a smaller, barely visible sign that reads ‘Unvaccinated because you don’t feel like it but you’re going to bring big bucks to our country? Please use the door round the back, but don’t tell anyone, OK?’

@Blackbird2020

It very much looks like Australia has big sign that reads ‘Only Vaccinated’ on the front door, with a smaller, barely visible sign that reads ‘Unvaccinated because you don’t feel like it but you’re going to bring big bucks to our country? Please use the door round the back, but don’t tell anyone, OK?’

I imagine our own government are watching with interest to see what they can get away with.

I think Djokovic might have gotten away with it if there hadn't been so much speculation about whether he'd play or not (some of it fuelled by his father who talked about it with the media, some of it fuelled by ND's known stance on vaccines) and if he hadn't posted about going to Australia, as everyone knew he wasn't vaccinated. I still don't know why he has to be so tone deaf at times in his sm posts. This all resonated with Australians who were outraged (imo they were right to be outraged) after suffering from tough lockdowns and so the whole thing backfired. I think the backlash is what caused the Australian government / PM to withdraw their support. If there had been no backlash, Djokovic would probably have played today. It's a combination of Djokovic and the Australian government not reading the room properly. Tennis Australia facilitated all of this. They need to take their portion of the blame too.

www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/novak-djokovic-greg-hunts-letter-to-tennis-australia-about-medical-exemptions-revealed/news-story/ac2621ceb1ec3a0d75ca96cf99a7396e

@Chulainn

I think Djokovic might have gotten away with it if there hadn't been so much speculation about whether he'd play or not (some of it fuelled by his father who talked about it with the media, some of it fuelled by ND's known stance on vaccines) and if he hadn't posted about going to Australia, as everyone knew he wasn't vaccinated. I still don't know why he has to be so tone deaf at times in his sm posts. This all resonated with Australians who were outraged (imo they were right to be outraged) after suffering from tough lockdowns and so the whole thing backfired. I think the backlash is what caused the Australian government / PM to withdraw their support. If there had been no backlash, Djokovic would probably have played today. It's a combination of Djokovic and the Australian government not reading the room properly. Tennis Australia facilitated all of this. They need to take their portion of the blame too.

Anyone else miss the days of being ruled by the law, rather than media optics ?

@milkyaqua

TA were not acting on behalf of the Australian government. I think TA gave him bad advice.

I agree with this. TA needs to explain why they thought this would fly and how they'd get away with him being unvaccinated. I'm wonderering if Craig Tilney will lose his job ( head of TA ). On the news tonight ( here in Melbourne) they were covering the first day and the consensus from other players and the crowd was that the right decision had been made. He won't be missed and we're all sick of hearing about him.