Djokovic gets medical exemption while Indian teen denied entry to Aus Open.

[CaliforniaDrumming]

Vaccine inequity in operation. Novak Djokovic gets a medical exemption from being vaxxed for the Australian Open, while a 17-yr-old Indian player is denied entry because India has not begun vaccinating the under 18.

gulfnews.com/sport/tennis/australian-open-indian-tennis-teen-slams-double-standards-on-djokovic-1.84772010

From the New York Times:

“The federal government could have easily made a definitive statement much earlier, which would have left the organizers and Djokovic in no doubt he would not have been able to enter,” Professor Kenny said.

“I do think some people will rightly question, as I do, why it had to be done in what appears to be a sort of deliberately humiliating way,” he added. “And I would say that it’s because it was done for maximum theatrical political value.”

www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/world/australia/novak-djokovic-covid.html

His father has always been nuts.
Must be hard for Novak with that kind of role model.

I will be glad if he has to leave Australia. I only wish we had a government that would treat 'celebrities' and professional sports people the same as everyone else. Remember Mike Tyson was allowed to come to the UK to fight despite having a conviction for rape.

@Flyonawalk

Anyone in Australian who is angry about this should be angry with their government, surely, for imposing suck long lockdowns. Not blaming a visiting professional for maintaining his medical privacy.

This 100%. The Australians are directing their anger at the wrong person.

he federal government could have easily made a definitive statement much earlier

They did. More than once.

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

@thewhatsit

I think this is all a completely farce.

He shouldn’t have been granted a bogus exemption in the first place (same rules should apply to us all). But then, having been granted, it to then change their minds because of the backlash is indefensible.

I think it’s appalling to hold him at the airport in this way. He wouldn’t have got on the plane if he’s not had his exemption and the visa, which they’re now saying were incorrect (so they shouldn’t have been issued then!!). Fault lies with the Australian authorities just as much, if not more so, than with Djokovic.

He was never granted an exemption for entry to Australia. He was given an exemption to play in the tournament.

He then separately applied for a visa to Australia which was granted, but his team stuffed up because it was not a visa that allows exemptions for unvaccinated people. He was denied entry at the border because the border is controlled by the national border force NOT Tennis Australia. Regardless of what Tennis Australia say about their tournament, there are not exemptions for entry to our country except under a tiny number of very specific circumstances.

And yet the ABF let this Czech player through on the same visa a month ago, only to backtrack now and take her into detention.

www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-07/australian-open-renata-vorackova-visa-border-force/100745226

It's a s*show of epic proportions, very embarrassing for Australia.

That was also my understanding of the situation @Wilburisagirl

No-one is going to come out of this well, least of all Tennis Australia.
What a fiasco!

[quote IndigoC]And yet the ABF let this Czech player through on the same visa a month ago, only to backtrack now and take her into detention.

www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-07/australian-open-renata-vorackova-visa-border-force/100745226[/quote]
Oh wow. She's already played in a tournament?

This is an epic screw up.

Absolute state of the Australian government. What a joke. They just look like petty, spiteful children in their crusade to punish unvaccinated people on the world stage and deflect blame from their epic failure and damage wrought on their own citizens by their pointless a d draconian restrictions. Embarrassing.

pointless and draconian restrictions.

Hmmm, UK dead: 150,000 plus. (population 65 million, approx)

Australia: c. 2,000. (population 25 million, approx)

@milkyaqua

pointless and draconian restrictions.

Hmmm, UK dead: 150,000 plus. (population 65 million, approx)

Australia: c. 2,000. (population 25 million, approx)

This chestnut. If Australia was the global hub that the U.K. is it would have seen the same death rate per capita, possibly worse. The current (mis)management of Omicron in Oz is testament to that. Geographically it is a backwater and that gave it previous time to react/close the borders in March 2020. I’m tired of that being passed off as some kind of astuteness.

*precious

Australia just kicked the can down the road. They will still get the cases and, as a result hospitalisations and deaths especially once the vaccines start to wane. There is no hiding from covid

Geographically it is a backwater

Perhaps you have not been here since the 70s? We are a part of Australasia, and have prior to the pandemic thousands of flights from China coming in and out, thousands of international students from the Asian region particularly, and a huge tourist trade.

@milkyaqua

Geographically it is a backwater

Perhaps you have not been here since the 70s? We are a part of Australasia, and have prior to the pandemic thousands of flights from China coming in and out, thousands of international students from the Asian region particularly, and a huge tourist trade.

I wasn’t alive in the (early) 70s. I moved to Europe from Australia in 2008, and then to the U.K. in 2011. If you were following the science in the early days of C19 you’ll know many more seeding events happened in the U.K. via Italy etc. Australia and NZ had an extra crucial few weeks to observe what was unfolding in Europe and act on it. The picture from China early on was unreliable. The less seeding events you have the easier it is to eliminate the virus altogether, a road Australia and NZ chose at that point. The U.K. continues to be an early marker for the world with each new variant because London is a hub, much more so than Sydney. If you lived in both (?) you’ll understand.

Irrespective of that, the U.K. just wasn’t and isn’t in a position to close itself off in the way Australia and NZ did. It may be an island but it is connected to Europe by road, and dependent on it for food and other goods. Thousands of hauliers come and go each day (I know, I live near the tunnel).

The U.K. government has made many errors during this pandemic, particularly early on (discharging elderly hospital patients into care homes to seed outbreaks, for example) but I’m not convinced Australia would have done any better given the same geographic and economic realities. As bad as the Tories are the various governments in Australia have looked very dysfunctional. For example, I don’t understand how it’s possible that only a third of nursing home residents in Oz right now have been boosted when we know how important that third shot is. Not enough priority has been given to the vulnerable in vaccination. My 40 yo brother in law in a city has been boosted but my very sick 67 year old mother in a rural area has not.

NSW just reported 45,000 cases in a day, which would be the equivalent of the U.K. reporting 360,000 cases, and I’m pretty sure per capita we’re still testing more.

By seeding events, do you mean inviting thousands over from Spain, an epicentre of the early outbreak, for some football match, and holding Cheltenham races, etc etc?

Every country has ballsed up some aspect of their handling of this, and then course-corrected. But England in particular seems to be going for some sort of prize in collective denial, both at the onset, and then throughout the pandemic, including now.

@milkyaqua

By seeding events, do you mean inviting thousands over from Spain, an epicentre of the early outbreak, for some football match, and holding Cheltenham races, etc etc?

Every country has ballsed up some aspect of their handling of this, and then course-corrected. But England in particular seems to be going for some sort of prize in collective denial, both at the onset, and then throughout the pandemic, including now.

Yes, that was moronic. But I understand most of the seeding actually occurred via people coming back from skiing holidays.

As for England being exceptional re:denial, I don’t know. I used to think that. Nothing is static and the picture on the ground is different from what you might think from the press. Right now people seem to be taking more care here than in Australia with Omicron, based on case numbers, at least. My town has been eerily quiet the past few weeks. We were badly hit in the Alpha wave, the scars remain.

We have a lunatic as our new premier in NSW. And Scotty is a bumbler. It's an absolute shit show. Course correction imminent. Slight pumping of brakes already announced. The whole thing is ridiculous, and really sad, after all the efforts of the preceding months and years.

@milkyaqua

We have a lunatic as our new premier in NSW. And Scotty is a bumbler. It's an absolute shit show. Course correction imminent. Slight pumping of brakes already announced. The whole thing is ridiculous, and really sad, after all the efforts of the preceding months and years.

Yeah, they’re both awful. Hopefully they get turfed out in the coming state and federal elections. Lucky for them Omicron is a bit milder otherwise it would’ve been an absolute disaster. I’m very worried for my mum in NSW. The vulnerable seem to have been completely disregarded at this point, but it’s the same here (except for better timed boosting).

@Flyonawalk

Anyone in Australian who is angry about this should be angry with their government, surely, for imposing suck long lockdowns. Not blaming a visiting professional for maintaining his medical privacy.

Visas are granted by the federal government.

Lockdowns are imposed by the states/territories.

They are separate.

I just can't understand how his team has allowed this to happen. Surely considering he is unvaccinated someone in his team should have been keeping an eye on how he can enter Australia over the last few months, not panicking about paperwork as he got on the flight !

Now they are saying he is exempt because he had covid on 16th December. But that was less than a month ago, what was his plan for exemption/ entering Australia before he caught covid in Dec ?

I think the case should have been heard today not on Monday, and from what I have read, Novak Djokovic should be on a plane leaving Australia.

Though if it was the UK, he'd be allowed an exception, even if he never gave a penny to the Tory party.

Now they are saying he is exempt because he had covid on 16th December. But that was less than a month ago, what was his plan for exemption/ entering Australia before he caught covid in Dec ?

Well I expect they thought he wouldn't be able to go but once he caught covid they then applied?
But the whole thing is a huge mess very confusing as Australian PM saying recent infection is not on their list of exemptions for entry into Australia.
Maybe everyone involved knew this but they just hoped he would get in anyway as Tennis Australia obviously keen to make it happen 🤷🏼‍♀️