Posted on 01/16/2022 12:18:37 AM PST by DallasBiff
Djokovic confirms he is leaving: "I cannot stay in Australia and participate in the Australian Open."
In a statement released after his appeal was dismissed on Sunday, Novak Djokovic said he would cooperate with authorities in arranging his departure from the country and confirmed he would not be playing in the Australian Open.
He said that while he was "extremely disappointed" in the judge's decision, "I respect the Court’s ruling and I'll cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from Australia."
He will now take time to rest and recuperate, he added, wishing good luck to fans, staff and players at the Australian Open.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Australia is nuts.
HA HA
Australia is a laughingstock.
Yes. It seems the ptb in oZ are nutz. Maybe they will find Dee’s nutz in a basket.
Gonna bm dat.
Australia and the Open have no credibility. There can be no Grand Slam winner this year. Maybe Australia shouldn’t even be considered a Grand Slam tournament anymore.
The minister has used his extraordinary personal power to remove Djokovic ftom Australia on the grounds that he was considered a threat to welfare of society due to his unvaccinated status. The courts have very limited judicial grounds to review this decision.
As an expat, i never knew that the minister had such powers to deport foreigners and wondering why he has not used the same to deport the tens of thousands of illegals, visa overstayers, criminals, cheats and hate mongers who are in Australia.
He certainly doesn't need the money, it won't hurt him but Australia is now a laughing stock. In the big scheme of things he has made made them look like fools.
This certainly isn't Australia's finest hour. What a pathetic showing from a country who supposedly was made of better people. They're scared of their shadows, they might as well be French.
I would start to coin the phrase ‘mini-slam’ to describe the matches. It’s not at the four-star competition level....why bother having it?
Australia is not a democracy ruled by the people for the people but by dictators sucking the tit of the WEF.
When these dictators in our world get their end I only hope it is long and gruesome!
The Covid19 policies in our most liberal states are much better than Covid deranged Australia.
written before the Court decision, by the former Australian Open tournament director...but well worth noting, as this is not what the public were told about Djokovic by the FakeNewsMSM:
15 Jan: The Age, Melbourne: Djokovic an easy target in anti-vaxxer witch hunt
by Paul McNamee, tennis player and former Australian Open tournament director
The No.1 men’s player in the world and nine-time champion is scheduled to begin the defence of his Australian Open title on Monday. In the Federal Court, he is facing deportation for three years. For me, perhaps sending home one of the best athletes in the world boils down to the simple reason that it is now known he is not vaccinated, and being such a public figure, it made him an easy target. Otherwise, there never would have been what seems to be a witch hunt.
When he boarded the plane for that long flight to Australia, he had every reason to believe he was entitled to enter. Yet, unlike the ***other players and officials ***who had arrived before him with the same medical exemption (including, in my view, the very poorly treated Czech player Renata Voracova), he was the one singled out to be detained...
It’s important to note the federal government has now accepted his medical exemption is valid, that there is only negligible health risk, and further stating in court documents he is a “person of good standing known for his philanthropy”.
For the record, if you have the same medical exemption here in Victoria as Djokovic, you can get a job at Woolies (Woolworths supermarkets), or can work at or attend the Australian Open. The new court case will be based on entirely new grounds, with the Immigration Minister saying that “as a high profile un-vaccinated individual ... Mr Djokovic’s ongoing presence in Australia may lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment in the Australian community, potentially leading to an increase in civil unrest of the kind previously experienced in Australia with rallies and protests which may themselves be a source of community transmission”.
People are saying he is getting special treatment because he is Novak Djokovic, when in fact it’s the opposite, as now it’s only because he is a high-profile and “influential” person that he is facing deportation.
The Australian Open is far and away Australia’s biggest international sporting event. Hosting all the world’s best tennis players in arguably the best sporting precinct in the world, it generates close to one billion dollars in economic impact for the state of Victoria. It puts Melbourne front and centre on the world stage for two weeks but, this year, for all the wrong reasons...
Djokovic is not an “anti-vaxxer”, which has been widely reported. He has openly said his children get various vaccines. Generous to a fault, he has personally donated millions of dollars to hospitals and causes struggling under the burden of COVID-19 in Serbia, Spain and Italy. He set up and paid for free vaccinations at two ATP and one WTA tournament (on his property) in Belgrade, so players and coaches could be double vaccinated, as many were. Who knew that?
He knows from his own experience with allergies and diet that, in many ways, you are what you digest. Simply put, he wants the final say about what enters his body. As the No.1 in a highly competitive global sport, who can blame him? So, what he is actually is pro-choice...
The facts are that Djokovic, a complex, holistic and deeply spiritual man, was put in detention just in time for Orthodox Christmas. He chose not to take his “bat and ball” (actually racquet) and go home but, armed with resources unavailable to the average man, he dared to take on the government in the Federal Court, and won.
Now he is facing another court case, on entirely different grounds. He could have said it’s all too hard, cut a deal, so there would be no further detention or long-term consequences, and got out of Australia pronto. He has chosen to stand his ground and take on the fight, and is again detained, on the eve of his first-round match. I respect him greatly for that.
I also respect that he fights for the rights of lower-ranked players to make a better living. He is popular in the locker room, and since this saga began, I have run into many players, male and female, and especially the lower ranked, who deeply appreciate the efforts he makes on their behalf: “Without Novak, we have no voice. He is our friend.”
The Australian Open has been engulfed and paralysed by this fiasco. Having once been the tournament director for 12 years, and knowing the enormous contributions of so many, I am not happy that it is being subject to ridicule, given, for example, the so-described “temporary draw”...
The facts are that Djokovic came to Australia with one sole aim, to try and defend his Australian Open title. Agree with him or not, and unpopular as he is here, it is accepted he met the rules...
So, he sits detained with the threat of immediate deportation for three years. It might as well be for life, as why would he ever come back?
https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/more-sports/djokovic-an-easy-target-in-anti-vaxxer-witch-hunt/ar-AASNBJL?ocid=msedgntp
It might be time to reevaluate our nuclear submarine deal with Australia. At this point, I’m not sure I cannot even classify Australia as a liberal democracy anymore. They’ve gone off to the deep end. New Zealand too.
The Down Under has went down under. If you get close you can hear the suck.
pre Court hearing:
14 Jan: Daily Mail: Immigration expert floored by the ‘extreme powers’ used to cancel of Novak Djokovic’s visa - but insists there is still a chance he will be able to play in the Australian Open
By ANDREW PRENTICE
Abul Rizvi, a former Deputy Secretary of the Immigration Department, told Channel 10’s The Project on Friday night that he was shocked by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s announcement...
‘So what the minister (Mr Hawke) has done is use second 113C of the (Migration) Act,’ Rizvi said.
‘It gives him a power to cancel a visa holder’s visa, if the minister considers it is in the public interest to do so.
‘And he can do that without giving the visa holder any natural justice. That is what he’s done. It is a very, very extreme power...
‘I recall when it was developed we only thought it would be used in the most extraordinary and rare circumstances, where someone presented a very serious risk to the Australian population.
‘I did not ever expect it to be used in these circumstances.’
Mr Rizvi labelled the decision a ‘high wire act’ - and that he would have advised Mr Hawke to go down a different path.
The panel on The Project also labelled the timing of the news - 6pm on a Friday - a ‘classic political move.’...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401877/Immigration-expert-stunned-extreme-powers-used-cancel-Novak-Djokovics-visa.html
15 Jan: The Age, Melbourne: As it happened: Novak Djokovic Federal Court appeal set for Sunday after Immigration Minister cancels tennis star’s visa
by Paul Pennay
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns SC, a barrister experienced in migration cases, said Djokovic was now feeling the full force of migration laws designed to remove suspected terrorists from Australia, not tennis players.
‘One of the most dangerous aspects of the Djokovic matter is the preparedness of the federal government to deem someone to be a risk to public order simply on the basis of what it perceives that person’s views might be,’ Mr Barns said.
‘This is Orwellian and it is deeply troubling in a society supposedly committed to freedom of speech and freedom of thought.’
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/live-novak-djokovic-federal-court-appeal-set-for-sunday-after-immigration-minister-cancels-tennis-star-s-visa-ahead-of-2022-australian-open-20220115-p59ofk.html
what’s it all about?
15 Jan: news.com.au: Chief Medical Officer drops big hint on Covid-19 booster shots
Australia’s most senior health adviser has dropped a huge clue on booster shots as Covid-19 cases climb across the country.
by Courtney Gould
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation would ‘absolutely’ be deliberating on the possibility of a fourth shot.
‘(ATAGI) is continuing to meet weekly. They will absolutely deliberate on fourth or subsequent doses,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Saturday...
Professor Kelly also issued a stark warning to young people to get vaccinated.
‘We are seeing an epidemic of the unvaccinated in young people. We are seeing that in intensive care admissions,’ he said.
‘Anyone of any age should be lining up to have that primary course of vaccination and boosters.’
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/health/chief-medical-officer-drops-big-hint-on-covid19-booster-shots/news-story/d365858a547ee312b40b1d6c7ab362b5
what’s it all about? this from the State of Queensland which has now opened its border, when it would shut the border for the sake of one or a handful of “cases” previously!
16 Jan: news.com.au: Queensland records 17,445 new Covid-19 cases, three deaths as Omicron peak nears
Queensland has recorded a further 17,445 new Covid cases and three deaths as the Omicron peak nears.
by Angie Raphael
Queensland has recorded 17,445 new Covid cases and three more deaths overnight, with hospital numbers on the rise.
One of the deaths was a person aged in their 60s, while another was in their 80s and the third was aged 103.
Two of them had received a single dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while one was fully vaccinated.
“All of these individuals had significant (underlying) medical conditions,” chief health officer John Gerrard told reporters on Sunday.
“I use this opportunity to remind everybody of the importance of boosted vaccination.”
Dr Gerrard said Covid-related deaths in Queensland had so far been “almost exclusively” people with “significant medical problems”.
“There have been relatively few surprises in the sort of person that has died from this illness so far,” he said.
“Most of the deaths we are seeing are relatively predictable demographically...
Queensland has a double dose vaccination rate of 88.6 per cent. (Deputy Premier Steven Miles) said it was hoped the state would reach 90 per cent this week.
“I would say to all of those who are unvaccinated, if you want to go to the pub, go get vaccinated,” he said.
https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/queensland-records-17445-new-covid19-cases-three-deaths-as-omicron-peak-nears/news-story/23fe59d7b68cb66b1ae1654de8b4f53c
I guess the Australian Open isn’t really so open.
If the country is already scared to death of just one unarmed man,
how are they gonna react when thousands of fully-armed Chinese soldiers invade?
Australian leaders are going to pay dearly for this outrage and are taking their country down to ruin with them.
Out of the ashes, the people of the world will be soon taught a harsh lesson about mass psychosis.
I predict those in charge in Australia will eventually have to leave or be hounded for the rest of their lives.
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