Morrison Government Demonstrates Hypocrisy Amid Djokovic Deportation Fight
Written originally by Jack Kerley 16 Jan. 2022.
Tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic has moved his deportation appeal to a higher court following the Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke cancelling his visa Jan. 14 three days before the Australian Open begins.
The Australian Open defending champion will appeal the decision to cancel his visa a second time despite a successful initial appeal Jan. 10, the Associated Press reported.
Djokovic has been detained by Australian authorities and placed back in the Park Hotel in Melbourne, where he was held for three nights last week, while he waits for his trial today at 9:30am AEDT, the BBC reported.
“Today I exercised my power under section 133C (3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so,” Hawke said in a statement.
“The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hawke said while, according to the AP.
If deported, Djokovic will be barred from entering Australia for a three year period, the AP reported, and he will join Katie Hopkins in being a celebrity to be deported due to outrage from Australian citizens during COVID despite Djokovic holding a decidedly less severe attitude toward the endemic COVID virus.
In contrast, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Caitlyn Jenner are some of many celebrities that have been granted entry into Australia for movies, television and holidays without contest from the Morrison government.
The Morrison government also knew of, and allowed, Chinese students to circumvent the travel bans in early 2020, even reimbursing them $5,000 each should they remain enrolled past Jun. 3 2020, according to CNBC.
The Morrison government also outright banned the return of Australian citizens from overseas or trapping them in Australia should they return, breaching the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 13.
General sentiment in Australia has been overwhelming negative there have been some standing up for the Serbian star, the Serbian community in Melbourne along with the Serbian president himself have stood up and made their voices heard.
“Why didn’t you return him back right away, or tell him it was impossible to get a visa?” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic asked the Australian authorities in a social media address according to the AP. “Why are you harassing him and why are you maltreating not only him, but his family and an entire nation that is free and proud.
“Do you need to win some elections?” Vucic said.
Despite a scathing opinion on Djokovic himself, this sentiment was repeated by Jacobin Magazine calling the deportation a political stunt while mentioning the “draconian immigration detention regime” which has imprisoned some asylum seekers in Park Hotel for nearly a decade.
Lisa Wilkinson of the Project also slammed Morrison’s decision, calling the deportation a classic political move, the Daily Mail reported.
The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has previously labelled COVID the “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” first uttered by United States President Joe Biden, has lead to the unvaccinated people feeling stigmatised.
Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California told the Associated Press, in September last year, that “the pandemic clearly involves all people, not just the unvaccinated.”
“We should not partition them as the exclusive problem,” Topol said claiming that the unintended consequence could be, ultimately, the stigmatisation of the unvaccinated.