Border farce:Door should have been closed to Djokovic weeks ago

Columnist and author

Sporting and political debacles don’t come much bigger,louder or more global in interest.

For months,the issue of whether Novak Djokovic,the world’s No.1 tennis playerand anti-vaxxer,would be able to come to the Australian Open has been simmering away in the background. The first grand slam of the year is,after all,held in one of the most locked-down cities on the planet,where the people have made extraordinary sacrifices to keep the population as healthy as possible. And he was meant to just waltz on in,be the exception to the rule,just because he could hit a ball well?

Thursday,January 6:Scott Morrison has defended the decision to refuse Novak Djokovic's entry into Australia and thanked Australian Border Force officers for enforcing the government's policies.

Both the Victorian and federal governments seemed to be in agreement that,unless he had either been vaccinated or held a fair dinkum medical exemption,then he could not ...

Until on Tuesday night,the Serb gleefully announced on Instagram that he had been granted an “exemption permission” and was on his way Down Under. Twitter went into meltdown,talkback outrage went round the clock and letters to the editor universally excoriating him were dispatched.

The dénouement came on Wednesday night.

Djokovic pretty much had his visa torn up in front of him,or at least was firmly told by Border Force that while his medical exemption – reportedly on grounds of having had COVID-19 in the last six months – might satisfy the two independent bodies appointed by Tennis Australia,it didn’t,(sniff),satisfythem.

Novak Djokovic posted to Instagram confirming that he had been granted an “exemption permission” to play in Melbourne. Top right,the flight he arrived on. Bottom right,an Australian Open car outside the airport early on Thursday morning.

Novak Djokovic posted to Instagram confirming that he had been granted an “exemption permission” to play in Melbourne. Top right,the flight he arrived on. Bottom right,an Australian Open car outside the airport early on Thursday morning.Nine

The result is Djokovic is now reportedly in a Melbourne quarantine hotel exploring his legal options,while he and Australia jointly make blaring headlines around the world.

A precedent for this?

There is none,bar the one pointed out by a wag on Twitter,that “it was an unvaccinated Serbian who started the First World War”.

Who is to blame for the whole imbroglio?

I would start with Djokovic himself. When they hold the World Dickhead Olympics,he would be my pick for the gold medallist. All this palaver,all this carry-on,all this angst and hate coming his way,all because of resisting a tiny prick in your arm? Please.

“Just get vaccinated,ya knob,” noted another of the Twitterati,speaking,in my view,for most of Australia.

Not for nothing does the 34-year-old,who has won nine Australian Open titles and a record-equalling 20 grand slams,have just about no support in this country.

In a Twitter poll conducted by your humble correspondent,out of about 5000 respondents,only 5 per cent or so think he should be let out of the hotel and allowed to play after all – coincidentally,about the same number of people in this country who are anti-vax nutters.

And yet it is not only Djokovic at fault here. More than 60 per cent of the same Twitter poll agrees that Australia itself looks ordinary.

Djokovic isthe most public unvaccinated figure in the world right now,and nothing has changed in his vaccination status in the past few weeks. How is it that Tennis Australia,the Victorian state government and the Australian federal government have failed to come to a firm position on whether he could or could not come? Was it really OK to allow him on to a plane in the first place,and stop him only once he touched down at Tullamarine?!

And what is worse?

It doesn’t feel as if the law is being applied without fear or favour,but that politics is at play. The acting Victorian Sports Minister,Jaala Pulford,told the ABC on Thursday morning that the Victorian state government was approached by no less than three federal government agencies seeking support for Djokovic’s visa bid.

And yet since the news came out,the outcry against Djokovic coming has been so great that the usual suspects seem to be vying for the lead in the political theatre to stop him,led by the PM himself.

“Rules are rules,” he tweeted rather piously on Thursday morning,“especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above these rules.”

Fine. But if he was in clear breach of those rules,it was the job of those federal agencies,surely,to point that out a few weeks ago?

For beyond all that,this was not someone more anonymous than a wrong number trying to slip through the net –Fault! – only to be caught by a vigilant customs officer at the airport:“’Ello,’ello,’ello,what have we got here?” This was,I repeat thrice now,the most famous anti-vaxxer in the world who,despite everything,appeared to have been granted permission to come.

And it was only when the public outcry was so great that the politicians took centre stage,preening at his expulsion.

The right result was achieved.

“Novak,Novax,Novisa,” one tweet summed it up beautifully.

It just should have been made clear weeks ago,not at five minutes to midnight at Tullamarine.

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Peter FitzSimons is a journalist and columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald.

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