On Friday in the Federal Court of Australia, and after CoB, the Minister for Immigration, the Hon. Alex Hawke, cancelled Novak Djokovic’s Visa for a second time after the defending Australian Open Champion had earlier in the week won his case against the Government cancellation of his Visa for denial of procedural fairness.
But having lost the first round, the Government was not going to give up. On Saturday the Minister released the Government’s written arguments as to why Djokovic should be removed from Australia. It seems that the Government is not concerned that the tennis star could be a health risk because of his unvaccinated-natural immunity status – well, with thousands of reported daily cases around the country, the government could hardly argue that one more presence would make the slightest difference and, indeed, as Sancho pointed out in the OT, how the Government would be able to argue that the medical exemption from vaccination for natural immunity could only work for Australian citizens and permanent residents and not to sojourning others would be a masterstroke of legal argument. No, the reasoning that the Minister is relying on to remove Djokovic from Australia is that he could be a bad influence on the nation by encouraging Australians not to be vaccinated or continue with their vaccination programs or by encouraging the risk of public dissent among so-called “anti-vaxxers.”
So the risk that Novak Djokovic poses to our nation is because the Minister considers that a heterodox view of the Government’s vaccine policy and creating the possibility of personal decision-making on whether to have a vaccine could give succour to those in the Australian community who possibly share this non-government view.
As I write this post the arguments in the Federal Court go on; we shall see sometime Sunday afternoon whether the Djoker will be free to play in the 2022 Australian Open. Instead, this post is about a government fig leaf.
Since the vaccine roll out began the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has continually informed Australians that the decision to be vaccinated for Covid-19 is entirely theirs because there is no mandatory vaccination policy in this country and because of Australians’ right under law to informed consent for all medical treatments. Despite this and in the full knowledge of the Commonwealth the individual States have endeavoured by coercion to ensure that vaccination for Covid-19 is not voluntary. To bring this about, jobs and livelihoods, access to products and services, including health and education, and the authority to do what one likes including to travel across state borders have been threatened and/or denied to ensure that the right card is chosen in the Government’s three card vaccination trick.
So despite his claims to respect the rights of all Australians to determine their own health needs according to law, the façade has fallen and, like a large African predator finally breaking cover after continually feigning disinterest in a grazing wildebeest, the Novak Djokovic migration case has shown that Scott Morrison and the Coalition Government is fully committed to all the draconian controls that the State Premiers have used to force up vaccination rates, which is why he has not once condemned any of the controls that the Premiers have used on Australians. The Novak Djokovic case has shown that under Scott Morrison Australia does in fact have mandatory vaccination.
In tatters is the Liberal Party claim to being the party of individual rights and freedoms; the fig leaf has fallen.
Well said. We’re a shithole country. And the Libs are a shithole party.
Let’s face it.
It didn’t hide much.
“In tatters is the Liberal Party claim to being the party of individual rights and freedoms; the fig leaf has fallen.”
That happened decades ago. ALL of the big players, especially the LSM are party to it.
We are almost at full “Napoleonic Code” now.
The once much-vaunted principle of “the presumption of innocence” is just a rapidly fading memory. In another decade or so, there will be very few alive who have even heard of it, let alone understood it.
It’s just “force majeure” all the way down, and it is indeed, a LONG way down.
Neil Oliver has something to say:
https://www.gbnews.uk/gb-views/neil-oliver-if-we-are-to-condemn-husbands-to-scream-their-grief-in-cars-in-hospital-car-parks-while-wives-die-alone-are-there-any-leaders-left-worthy-of-the-trust-of-decent-people/206011
Give it a break. There is hardly a country in the world (including Serbia) that does not require proof of vaccination for entry. The Djokovic case was ridiculous, because if he had the virus, as he asserted, he was immune by definition.
I wonder when the Inquisitions will commence?
It is time to put the Liberal “last”.
Bruce says:
January 16, 2022 at 6:38 pm
Neil Oliver has something to say:
https://www.gbnews.uk/gb-views/neil-oliver-if-we-are-to-condemn-husbands-to-scream-their-grief-in-cars-in-hospital-car-parks-while-wives-die-alone-are-there-any-leaders-left-worthy-of-the-trust-of-decent-people/206011
I simply cannot fathom how much we have fallen as a society across the Western world.
Dismissed with costs.
World tennis champion Novak Djokovic’s bid to remain in Australia has failed.
The federal court of Australia unanimously agreed to dismiss Djokovic’s challenge to the cancellation of his visa.
The reasons were not given by Chief Justice James Allsop (The Oz)
The unintended consequences of this decision will be interesting to observe.
Nearly all these politically inconvenient cases fail for reasons the justices are unable (or unwilling) to articulate.
“the Novak Djokovic migration case has shown that Scott Morrison and the Coalition Government is fully committed to all the draconian controls that the State Premiers have used to force up vaccination rates, which is why he has not once condemned any of the controls that the Premiers have used on Australians. “
Yep. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to seeing the smirk wiped off Morrison’s face on election night.
Superb piece BBS….thank you.
Great post, Swimmer.
+billionty
Who would anyone ever choose to come to this country as a tourist again?
They always are 🙂
I suspect this may be the last Australian Open.
The international tennis organisations will not take this well… They have every right to pull the tournament out of here and take it somewhere else.
There will be plenty of other countries happy to host a grand slam.
That was evident in 2006 when, in control of both houses, Howard rejected calls for a Bill of Rights, claiming it would take power away from politicians. Australia remains the only anglosphere country without such a Bill. Not that it’s a panacea, but its certaily to be preferred to trusting your rights to politicians to defend.
Cynical bastard that I am I would imagine it being as useful as the charter of human rights in Victoria. Ignored when convenient, and abused by leftists for their pet projects, with SFA protections for anyone right of the greens.
“I suspect this may be the last Australian Open.
The international tennis organisations will not take this well… They have every right to pull the tournament out of here and take it somewhere else.
There will be plenty of other countries happy to host a grand slam.”
I hope it will be the last.
“That was evident in 2006 when, in control of both houses, Howard rejected calls for a Bill of Rights, claiming it would take power away from politicians. Australia remains the only anglosphere country without such a Bill. Not that it’s a panacea, but its certaily to be preferred to trusting your rights to politicians to defend.”
Roger, I understand your sentiment but Canada has a Bill of Rights and it’s been useless in protecting Canadians basic freedoms.
it’s a farce
as usual, self interest will be their undoing
stunning post btw
That’s why it was so important that it be drafted and adopted by people at least nominally committed to individual rights whilst they controlled the parliament. And not subject to ministerial whim, as the various state instruments are.
I’m a total tennis tragic but I won’t be watching the Open this year. This debacle has destroyed my enjoyment of watching the best players in the world play off against each other.
I hope it will relocate to Tokyo or Seoul. Australia, and Melbourne in particular, do not deserve it.
It comes back to the nature and content of the document and the authority it wields, cassie.
The US has done rather better.
The cry was always that we had Common Law; well, that has proven to be a fig leaf in the face of governments happy to legislate limitations on rights or withdraw them altogether.
Scomo straight out of the blocks already trying to turn it into a Tampa moment. Be interesting to see how the local media play it, I don’t think it will play out how he thinks it will and if there is a hint of a stuff up he’ll own it.
As for the fig leaf, probably not till Abbott I started noticing the rot. Knew it was there with lefty members like Petro Georgiou in the party during Howard but hadn’t had the red pill yet. Abbott was the last time the Liberals went at the top of my ballot anywhere.
Dear P.M. Morrison,
You really know how to shoot yourself in the foot, don’t you?
Not only is the Djokovic decision totally unjust and against all the science and common sense: it’s politically disastrous. But the first is far more important: it’s totally unjust.
My parents laboured mightily for the Liberal Party for years in the hope that it could be at least half decent. I’m fiercely anti-left, but no bloody way I’m ever contributing to your cause. Because you’re totally untrustworthy. Your’re not anti-totalitarian: you’re in fact a rank totalitarian! From today I’m working flat out to get rid of you and your ilk. I have so many friends saying the same thing as I do. It’s too late … you’ve trailed your coat for way too long. You’re as bad as Robespierre, who sang beautiful hymns to liberty whilst lopping off heads left, right and centre, while you decimate the economy for the sake of the common good. In many ways … and I don’t mean this as a compliment … you’re like the current Pope Francis: a coward and a bully. Though you’re not so much a bully as he is … you’re too much of a coward for that. You’re just a wet lettuce leaf.
Of course, your reply will be “I only did it for the good of my country!” Well, I believe that’s what Robespierre said too. He may even have been sincere. So much the worse for him, and yourself, and Andrews, McGowan, &c.
Tim Blair:
………Ahead of yesterday’s court hearing to determine if Novak Djokovic would be allowed to remain in Australia, our government presented the real reason it sought to deport the Serbian tennis player.
It wasn’t because Djokovic’s mid-December Covid infection was insufficient grounds to grant him a medical exemption for the Australian Open.
And it wasn’t because certain immigration documents presented by Djokovic contained incorrect information.
Instead, the government argued that Djokovic must be expelled because you, the Australian public, are stupid.
Specifically, you are so stupid that your opinions and beliefs about medicine, science, Covid and vaccinations may easily be swayed by the temporary presence here of a Serbian athlete……
But as the Federal Court heard yesterday, Australians have continued to get vaccinated since Djokovic’s arrival. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on the weekend that Australia had reached the 95 per cent double vaccination threshold for people aged over 16.
Unless Djokovic’s influential magic extends to removing vaccines from inoculated Australians, him being here is unlikely to make any difference to what we’ve so far done as a community or what we’ll do in the future……
Not that Djokovic has said anything of note since arriving in Australia, but let him say what he wants. People say crazy things all the time. And we’re free to examine those statements, and to mock or ignore them.
Tim Flannery, for example, said Sydney’s dams might never refill. Cate Blanchett said artists can change gravity. Bruce Pascoe says he’s Aboriginal.
And Immigration Minister Alex Hawke says Australia risks “civil unrest” unless we throw a tennis player out of the country, which may be even more ridiculous than Djokovic’s beliefs about sentient water.
It is certainly far more insulting. Regardless of the court’s unanimous decision yesterday to deport Djokovic, Australians should not forget just how negatively we are viewed by this government……
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/novak-djokovic-affair-sadly-shows-what-pm-scott-morrison-thinks-of-aussies/news-story/48c79fd68a0bfbf712dcee0bd128e84f
Roger.
Victoria has the equivalent of a BOR.
The Victorian ombudsman apparently stated that the actions of the Andrews government were clearly in contravention to it.
How much difference do you think that made?
Australia is a signatory to the International Charter of Political Rights and Freedoms. TheFederal Government has ignored that.
Magna Carta has guaranteed that we could not be locked up arbitrarily and without due process…. yet how many of us have spent time under house arrest over the last two years.
It is outstandingly naive to imagine either that the politicians would choise the kind of people you want to consider a new BOR, or that they would pass a referendum bill for a BOR that did not include every loophole and escape clause they need to keep on doing exactly what they are, now.
It is just as naive to imagine that a population that is still seemingly demanding that the government “save them”, would support a BOR preventing the Government from continuing to engage in useless, expensive and authoritarian gestures, every time it declared an “emergency”.
For Pete’s sake.
Demanding to know your vaccination status is illegal NOW, under privacy law.
Sacking people for not being vaccinated is illegal NOW under anti-discrimination law.
Pressuring people to accept unproven medical therapies is illegal NOW.
When are we going to get it through our collective heads that our governments KNOW that they are breaking the law, and they DON’T CARE….. because they don’t believe that they will be punished at the ballot box.
Another BOR is a red herring.
The obvious conclusion is that a tennis-player is kore credible than our governments, and the health minister knows it.
My elderly sister who knows nothing about tennis is lying awake at night worrying about the threat Djoko poses to vaxxed Australians, and the entire social order. The media have really messed up her mind. She knows the media is not trustworthy, but she watches the shit ten hours a day.
Tennis Australia likely (and unintentionally) increased the chance of the open being moved when they started branding themselves as the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific. I don’t think any international sport would risk a major tournament here before a change of government. I can’t stand Albo but this might be the straw that means I put liberals after labor
Surely DJchoko will sue Tennis Australia for the costs he had awarded against him.
He followed TA directions to the letter, and TA asked him not to deal with the Vic or Fed departments.
TA has some very expensive blood on their hands. They’re also broke, and in debt $40M to the VicGov. Might be hard to get blood out of that stone.
What angers me the most is that most of these megalomaniac fascist oppressers of ours claim to be Christian.
They must belong to a very unusual sect if they are.
Brilliant article BBS. Thank you.
That’s not good, Jannie. I hope she can move away from it soon.
The idea that unvaxxed people are germ-ridden threats to others was deliberately cultivated by governments. It is a scientific lie but they keep pushing it every day.
It is wilfully evil.
Peter W has belled the cat.
And if you think putting Labor before Liberal will “teach ’em”, you’re dreaming. The epithet “Uniparty” exists for a reason.
Only a serious vote for freedom-oriented parties will have any effect. My first preference would be the LDP. If not available I would suspend my disbelief and vote UAP. Are either perfect? No. But don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Those who persist in thinking there is no alternative to the Lib/Lab metronome are part of the problem. The situation is far too serious that.
Much as they are anathema to me, look and learn from the outsized influence the Greens have without forming government anywhere in Australia. They drag Labor to the Left, which in turn pulls the Liberals to the Left (with a goodly push from Photios et al.), and before anyone is aware of it the country is changed.
Look and learn.
I knew the game was up on Christmas Eve when that leftist Hunt approved THREE MONTH BOOSTERS and presented it as an “opportunity”. The Liberals knew the premiers would immediately take that “opportunity” and abuse their citizens with it and yet they did it. Knowing that and doing this showed the truth of the matter so clearly. Every person in Australia will be ultimately coerced into taking three month boosters (four a year). Federal liberal and State labor are arm in arm together and ALWAYS were. I understand now the mystery of why the federal government ordered around two hundred million jabs mid last year. It was ALWAYS going to be this way with mandated three month boosters and these lying bastards planned it all along. I’m voting liberal last. Dead last. And I’m voting LibDems, One Nation, UAP first. In the hope that one of them gets the balance of power and stops the madness. A vote directly to the liberal party is a wasted vote which they will simply use to do the exact opposite of what you needed from them. In the last three years there is no issue, not one, in which they have not sold us out to the socialists.
“Unintended Consequences”
Interesting book.
I was wondering why they don’t include tags. Surely it ought to be
Hon. (sarc) Alex Hawke
Or is it just that it is so obvious the tag is not necessary.
The ‘Hon’ thing is brilliant but – just not the way they think.
Honourable would be a good thing to be known as, but the title is not bestowed on anyone – I can’t get it – but only judges and politicians.
They have mandated respect, which immediately erases any respect the word might have been meant to convey. But the fact it is mandated makes them look worse than if they had not been granted the title.
An excellent summary. Australia has become a scary place of which I am ashamed.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/01/16/novak-djokovic-thoughtcriminal/
P.S. Hon. P.M. … a suggestion : rename the National COVID Cabinet “The Committee of Public Safety”. That would just about get it right. (Acknowledgements to those who may well have suggested this before.)
Oh, and throw in a Star Chamber as well: you could call it the “Djokovic Memorial Centre for Rehabilitation.”
buried in comments under ZeroHedge article:
—
Do you come from a land down under
Where women hide and men knuckle under
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the covid thunder
You better run, you better take cover
Buying a mask from a man in Brussels
He had an issue with his heart muscles
I said, “Do you speak-a my language?”
He just smiled and gave me a Vaccine sandwich
And he said:
I come from a land down under
Where pfizer flows and men knuckle under
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the covid thunder
You better run, you better take cover.
“Roger, I understand your sentiment but Canada has a Bill of Rights and it’s been useless in protecting Canadians basic freedoms.”
That’s because it is a statute law, not a constitutional requirement. If we go down this path – and I think we should – then it needs to be a list of negative rights in the constitution. That is, something that applies to all levels of government and lists what they cannot do – constrain free speech, constrain firearm ownership, hold you without charge, delay a trial unreasonably etc etc. And yes, we should have an armed population – it’s the only way to ensure our other rights can’t be ignored and also the only way to ensure the government is afraid of the people, not the other way around.
While we’re changing the constitution, let’s also change from “not specified = federal” to “not specified = state”, and give back the power of taxing income to the states. This would ensure diversity and competition between states – “diversity is strength” saith the left, so put your money where your mouth is!
“I was wondering why they don’t include tags. Surely it ought to be
Hon. (sarc) Alex Hawke
Or is it just that it is so obvious the tag is not necessary.”
Honorable member …
“Member” – yes indeed you are one of those!
Don’t take the legal Statement of Reasons as what the Minister (or PM or anyone from the government) would say if you could have a personal chat with them – assuming such a thing was possible. The Department is constantly fighting immigration cases in the courts and the official wording in this very high profile and urgent one would be what was considered (after being looked at by a lot of people) legally safest in the circumstances, not necessarily a full reflection of what the movers and shakers were actually thinking.
Anyone noticed how the Djokovic decision has emboldened those spiteful, shameful & malicious maggots to renew their desire to hunt down the unvaccinated?
This is one huge sink hole in Australian history.
Miksasays:
January 17, 2022 at 12:49 pm
Don’t take the legal Statement of Reasons as what the Minister (or PM or anyone from the government) would say if you could have a personal chat with them – assuming such a thing was possible. The Department is constantly fighting immigration cases in the courts and the official wording in this very high profile and urgent one would be what was considered (after being looked at by a lot of people) legally safest in the circumstances, not necessarily a full reflection of what the movers and shakers were actually thinking
For what reason did Novak Djokovic’s visa need to be cancelled?
No one mentioned Novak’s strong voice against Rio “bravo” potential investment in Serbia’s lithium.
And their strong connection to the Oz gov? Such questions are coming from overseas.
As well as that there were over 20? tennis people entering Oz based on the same exemption before No. 1.
Some clearly suffered as a result of the “get him out”, wonder if prospects of unrests were mentioned in their cases?
Miksa,
meant to add, I don’t think that suspect visa applications could in any way compare with a tennis player requiring a visa for two weeks. And what has that to do with the supposed risk to Australians were he allowed to stay?
So, as regards Djokovic, the government position is that Australians are gullible simpletons. They are largely right.
If they were wrong, they wouldn’t be in government.
I know we’re supposed to vote for the party, not the man, but no. Morrison should be bum up in front of a randy bull.