COVID-19 and Tennis

[MARTINE]

Grapes MARTINE, they are fed grapes.

Of course - prepared especially by the personal chef!

 

[Anna]

This is becoming such a mess and Novax has brought it all upon himself. IMO he would have been much better off to reach an out-of-court agreement with the Aust govt last Thursday that he would go quietly in 2022 in return for being allowed back in 2023, probably on condition that he agreed to play in some obscure tournament that would normally be way beneath him to bother with. Eg the Adelaide International.

If he'd landed at Adelaide last week on Wednesday night instead of MEL he would have been in time for the second week of the Adelaide International too.... S Marshall would no doubt have been keen to support him playing in that.

 

[dairyfloss]

Looks like one more is sitting in F tonight...........

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I'd be interested to know what difference it would have made if his travel declaration had said 'yes' to the question about travel in the previous 14 days. Is it a case of further questions would then be asked about where he went, what he did etc, or is it a blanket 'no you can't come to Australia until 14 days have expired since your last trip'. Because if it is the latter then surely the 'human error' excuse becomes completely irrelevant. Rules are rules as someone once said - oh wait wasn't that our PM who said that?

Given he's coming in from overseas I don't actually understand why this question is in any way important and likely I'd have answered it wrongly too!

But as an Aust citizen and fully vaxxed, if you did answer it wrong accidentally or otherwise, wouldn't the most likely outcome be quarantine? I dunno, I'm just speculating here.

I think from a public health perspective there would have been no difference. At this time, no country that allows travel has a different covid-risk. It was southern Africa with a larger risk in early December.

Unvaccinated would have allowed entry with quarantine regardless of the number of countries.
Vacccinated would have been allowed quarantine free entry.

Both should get a fine for telling porkies that had minimal public health consequences.

 

[jb747]

Has he used the Shane Warne excuse yet?

"His mother did it..."

 

[Saab34]

Few Journalists reporting his gone. I guess it’s going to play out late this afternoon. I guess a few errors which have popped up in the last few days has helped the governments case.

I did read somewhere he can lodge another injunction and the judge can rule again etc...Not sure if that’s accurate.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Has he used the Shane Warne excuse yet?

"His mother did it..."

Appearing on Sunrise on Thursday, Djokovic’s mother Dijana addressed her son’s unwillingness to be vaccinated.

“Novak is 34-35, even me as a mother I don’t have any choice to make pressure on him,” she said.

“He has his own philosophy of his life. If he thinks like that, I can just say OK.

“I know that Novak is the most healthiest guy in the world, like a sportsman. He takes care of his life and his body so much that nobody can even imagine how. He’s so dedicated to this sport and dedicated to what he’s doing. He’s playing tennis and he wants to stay on the court and I know he is doing everything to take care of his body to stay healthy.

“I don’t know what is the problem if he doesn’t want to get vaccinated. That’s his choice and each person in this world has the opportunity to make a choice. This is like human rights. You cannot pursue him or pressure him to do this.”

...courtesy of news.com.au blog

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Few Journalists reporting his gone. I guess it’s going to play out late this afternoon. I guess a few errors which have popped up in the last few days has helped the governments case.

I did read somewhere he can lodge another injunction and the judge can rule again etc...Not sure if that’s accurate.

It would seem accurate, and quite likely to be granted - meaning Djokovic can play AO22 until if the case is decided against him.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I did read somewhere he can lodge another injunction and the judge can rule again etc...Not sure if that’s accurate.

I'm no legal expert but my understanding is that the ABF come under the Minister for Home Affairs, His Visa was cancelled at Melbourne airport by the ABF. If the Minister for Home Affairs cancels the Visa directly, there are no ground for appeal - but this did not occur. His lawyers appealed that due process was not followed in cancelling his Visa. Specifically that the ABF told him he could provide details of his exemption by 8:30am but cancelled his Visa prior to this.

In the court case on Monday, Judge Kelly of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia didn't need to make any judgement because both NoVax's lawyers and the Govenment's lawyers came to agreement not to proceed as it was evident due process was not followed (that is, they didn't give him the extra 40mins to 8:30am). This court case did not take into consideration the validity of the Visa or any exemption, its was purely whether process had been followed. So effectively his Visa Cancellation was nulled by the courts.

NOW, its upto a different department, and the Minister for Immigration, who also holds power to cancel a visa. And then this can be appealed in court also. The Minister for immigration also has discretion whether to apply a ban 3yrs or not.

The bigger concern for NoVax is that if his Visa is cancelled, this can affect any future Visa applications also.

At the end of the day, this all down to Tennis Australia thinking they could do what they please, the Federal Liberal government is going to come out looking stupid also, but this is more down to their run-of-the-mill hypocrisy of saying one thing but doing another, than this specific case.

 

[Saab34]

The bigger concern for NoVax is that if his Visa is cancelled, this can affect any future Visa applications also

Probably something they can fight away in court over the next year. Big bucks with lawyers so he will no doubt win that one anyway.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Probably something they can fight away in court over the next year. Big bucks with lawyers so he will no doubt win that one anyway.

The other option he has is to voluntarily leave immediately.

 

[Lynda2475]

The other option he has is to voluntarily leave immediately.

But that would require him to be a decent person, which his actions have show he is not.

 

[SeatBackForward]

But that would require him to be a decent person, which his actions have show he is not.

I just read an article about his beliefs in health etc. He once held his arms up and the arm holding a piece of bread felt weaker, and so he believes he has an intolerance to being near Gluten...

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Australian Open ticket sales paused at 50 per cent capacity by Victorian government​

Tickets already sold will be honoured, meaning the capacity limit may be exceeded in some situations, if more than half the available tickets have already been sold.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Today's ABC blog on Djokovic - pretty quiet atm, going over past few days of information

Federal government still considering whether to cancel Djokovic's visa — as it happened

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has been considering using his ministerial powers to cancel Novak Djokovic's visa for several days, but has still not announced a decision. As it happened.

www.abc.net.au

 

[SeatBackForward]

I reckon, Hawke will come out, make some comment that the actions of Novax are regrettable, that he's apologised and they will let him stay as an "ambassador" or some nonsense. They will take no questions. Novax will have gotten away with it.

 

[drron]

Non citizens who have arrived in Australia and have been admitted have had an exemption from a Government -State or Federal. For example QLD have given out quite a few to "entertainers" for example. Novax did not have a Government issued exemption merely from TA and a Victorian Government Medical advisory board. Neither of those bodies have the authority to issue an exemption certificate.
The ABF did contact the Victorian Government on the night that Novax arrived and here is the relevant Victorian Minister's statement issued at 2314 on 5/1.
“The federal government has asked if we will support Novak Djokovic’s visa application to enter Australia. We will not be providing Novak Djokovic with individual visa application support to participate in the 2022 Australian Open ... We’ve always been clear on two points: visa approvals are a matter for the federal government, and medical exemptions are a matter for doctors.“
Victorian acting Sports Minister Jaala Pulford on Twitter at 11.14pm on Wednesday

The blame game: Who said what about Djokovic’s cancelled visa

The Victorian government, the federal government and Tennis Australia have faced a barrage of questions about how the exemption situation has unfolded.

www.theage.com.au

So the Victorian Government had not issued Novax with an official exemption.

 

[Pushka]

I just read an article about his beliefs in health etc. He once held his arms up and the arm holding a piece of bread felt weaker, and so he believes he has an intolerance to being near Gluten...

Well, that is true for people with peanut allergies, but seems to have missed the connection that gluten can't be inhaled. Maybe he thinks that Covid is eaten and not inhaled.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Has Dijana, his mum, warned him of this issue?

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...t/news-story/4bb179721b4c4fe85888fbb36f6248a5

One wonders if this will affect the size of his head as well?

 

[drron]

Has Dijana, his mum, warned him of this issue?

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...t/news-story/4bb179721b4c4fe85888fbb36f6248a5

One wonders if this will affect the size of his head as well?

No but he will have to buy shoes. Well known that the size of a man's feet is proportional to the size of his wedding tackle.