The Mauling of Novak Djokovic

January 10, 2022
Written by: Dr Binoy Kampmark
72 Replies

Rarely can the treatment of a grand sporting figure by officialdom have caused such consternation. Novak Djokovic, the tennis World Number One, has always had a tendency to get under skin and constitution, creating a large following of admirers and detractors. But his current treatment by Australian authorities, and his subsequent detention as an unlawful arrival despite being granted a visa to participate in the Australian Open, had the hallmarks of oppression and incompetent vulgarity. In time, it may well also prove to have been another example of provincial opportunism and crass stupidity.

It all began with the thick cloud of doubt over whether the Serbian tennis star needed to show proof of vaccination or otherwise in entering Australia. The Australian Open had become the first grand slam tennis tournament to require mandatory vaccination for all athletes subject to exemptions. This was a position also taken by the Victorian government. What remained unclear was whether dispensations could be granted, and under what conditions.

Djokovic was always unwilling to reveal his vaccination status. His response to the pandemic has also been patchy, even cavalier. The Adria Tour in June 2020, created as a response to the cancellation of various sporting events, proved disastrous. Organised by the Novak Djokovic Foundation as a “charity tour to help the coronavirus victims,” it saw players, spectators and officials contract COVID-19, including Djokovic himself, resulting in the abandonment of the tournament.

Along with other tennis players, his application to participate in the Australian tournament, assessed anonymously, was accepted, leading him to confirm his departure for Melbourne earlier this month. Two bodies were involved in conducting the review: Tennis Australia and an independent medical exemption review panel. The Victorian Department of Health confirmed that the exemptions had been granted to those with a “genuine medical condition.”

Happy New Year! Wishing you all health, love & joy in every moment & may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet.

I’ve spent fantastic quality time with loved ones over break & today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022! pic.twitter.com/e688iSO2d4

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 4, 2022

The next part of the story is revealing about Australian officialdom. On arriving in Melbourne, Djokovic encountered the nastiness that has made the Australian Border Force famous in celluloid, social media and print. It was all good to have received an exemption from two bodies; but the ABF retained the discretion to ask for further particulars and revoke any visa at their discretion. The Commonwealth, after all, is the final arbiter as to who crosses the border.

A statement by the ABF, never paragons of thoroughness or justice, claimed that “Mr Djokovic failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia, and his visa has been subsequently cancelled.” In the cobwebbed mind of bureaucratic reasoning, this could mean, and be, anything.

In the right royal mess that ensued, the Victorian government, on being asked by the federal government to supply evidence of Djokovic’s exemption, declined to sponsor him. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, showing that exemptions are viewed differently depending on which authority in Australia provides them, was satisfied that the right decision had been made. In his particular reasoning, “Rules are rules, especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above these rules. Our strong border policies have been critical to Australia having one of the lowest death rates in the world from COVID, we are continuing to be vigilant.”

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews also stated that all arrivals in Australia had to “provide acceptable proof that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.” Absent that, Djokovic “won’t be treated any different to anyone else and he’ll be on the next plane home.” Such words are rich coming from a government addicted to subverting the rule of law, convention and due process.

The view also went some way in making a mockery of the assessments by both Tennis Australia and the medical review board. As Australia Open director Paul McNamee explained to the ABC, “every player and support member fills in a form, visa 408, and everyone does that, you are guided through it by Tennis Australia, every step of the way, and then you get approval, that is the process.”

McNamee stressed that Djokovic “was following the rules. You might be angry that he was given an exemption, but players need to have confidence that the rules they abide by going are to be enforced, so if this is something to [do] with the vaccination in the exemption, for me that’s not fair.”

The legal challenge by Djokovic makes various assertions. The player received, the defence argues, a temporary activity class visa on November 18. Djokovic had tested positive to a PCR test on December 16 and was subsequently granted the exemption. It was then claimed that the Home Affairs Department had sent a note on January 1 informing him that he had met “the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia.”

The submission is in stark contrast to correspondence from the Health Department and the Commonwealth. The former’s First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield had informed Tennis Australia Chief Executive Craig Tilley that, “People who have previously had COVID-19 and not received a vaccine dose are not considered fully vaccinated.” Health Minister Greg Hunt, on following up Schofield’s observations, also confirmed that those who had contracted COVID-19 “within six months and seek to enter Australia from overseas, and have not received two doses of a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)-approved or TGA-recognised vaccine … are not considered fully vaccinated.”

Most tellingly, the Morrison government, and a good number of Fortress Australia types, have made it clear that the very concept of any right of entry, notably during times of emergency such as a pandemic, is irrelevant and has no bearing in a court of law or before any tribunal of justice.

While it will be of little comfort to Novak, he should not be surprised that Australian government officials are equally contemptuous of any right of return for Australian citizens, who remain at the mercy of a spray of weak High Court judgments and a total absence of constitutional protection. Tens of thousands have been stranded in other countries since 2020, left at the mercy of menacing poverty, lack of safety, reviled and mocked as disease ridden and undeserving of sanctuary. The Commonwealth and State governments have all done their bit to prevent such returns, imposing onerous requirements and even, in some cases, threatening punitive fines. The Australian passport has become a form of debased coinage.

The cancellation of Djovokic’s visa also led to another brush with institutional savagery. The tennis player is being detained at Carlton’s Park Hotel, a facility that has been used for refugees more than acquainted with the concentration camp system reserved for “unlawful” naval arrivals. He can at least count himself fortunate not to be rendered to the tropical torture centres of Nauru or Manus Island, two favourite destinations for Canberra’s undesirables.

When it comes to Australia’s refugee concentration camp system, celebrity or standing provides little by way of salvation. As former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull explained to his counterpart President Donald Trump in discussing a refugee transfer between the countries, Australia would be more than happy to jail Nobel Prize laureates if they did not have the requisite paperwork. “So, we would rather take a not-very-attractive guy that helps you out than to take a Nobel Peace Prize winner that comes by boat.”

Irate detainees, some having been in captivity for almost a decade, have also noted the sudden spike of interest, if only because of the celebrity calibre attention being paid to Djokovic. Protests in Serbia, Montenegro and Australia have taken place. Carlton’s Park Hotel has been the site of a hearty gathering of supporters. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has urged that the tennis player not be held “in that infamous hotel”.

This could but induce sadness on the part of Mehdi Ali, an Iranian immigrant who was fifteen when he sought sanctuary in Australia and is also being held at the Park Hotel. “I’ve been in a cage for 9 years, I turn 24 today, and all you want to talk to me about is [Djokovic],” he tweeted on January 7. “Pretending to care by asking me how I am and then straight away asking questions about Djokovic.”

It's so sad that so many journalists contacted me yesterday to ask me about Djokovic. I've been in a cage for 9 years, I turn 24 today, and all you want to talk to me about is that.

Pretending to care by asking me how I am and then straight away asking questions about Djokovic.

— Mehdi Ali (@MehdiAli98) January 6, 2022

To the hosts of an Australian television program The Project, Mehdi did take some heart that attention was finally being showered upon the grim conditions in the detention hotel. Those who “came here for Djokovic … found out about our circumstances and they were shocked.”

The appeal hearing against the decision by the ABF is taking place today (January 10) where some sense of the brutish nonsense that has transpired may be made. But for the likes of Mehdi, the Djokovic storm, whether it results in him playing or not in Melbourne, will pass. A country filled with the descendants of convicts and their gaolers will continue working to form.

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Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:01 pm

Let’s add this to the long list of bumbling incompetence by the federal government.

A CommentarorJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:25 pm

Djokovic is the vaccination equivalent of a tax dodger. He’s a very wealthy man who tries to manipulate the rules for personal gain.

Pete PetrassJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:42 pm

A competent government would have never let him get on the plane in the first instance.

GarthJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:00 pm

A Commentaror,
How do you manipulate rules that the bumbling Australian Bureaucracy cannot interpret themselves. We’ve seen enough of this with the CoVid farce so it’s now the norm. Rules were made for the guidance of the intelligent and the blind obedience of the idiots.

Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:25 pm

Djokovic is the vaccination equivalent of a tax dodger.

That amused me. I like your sense of humour.

Terence MillsJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:29 pm

The federal government are trying to spin this as Djokovic wanting to be above the law and as a privileged prima donna.

But as Judge Anthony Kelly pointed out today :

The status of Djokovic’s medical exemption “preoccupied” him, describing it as a “relatively significant fact” that Djokovic had obtained an exemption from “a professor and eminently qualified physician”, which was further approved by an independent expert panel established by the Victorian state government.

“That document was in the hands of the delegate [ABF Officers who cancelled his visa]. “The point I’m somewhat agitated about is: what more could this man [Djokovic] have done?”

For some misguided reason the coalition government – Joyce is in on this too – think that there is some political advantage for them in hounding Djokovic but they may have misread the law, the electorate and the global media (again).

New England CockyJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:52 pm

@ Terence Mills: Novaxx has provided a diversion form the too regular press releases from Scummo…. when did he last perform in public??

This is the calm before the storm of media deluge leading into the 2022 election.

Expect to see Scummo preening on television from Maryborough Queensland, flown there directly (at ENORMOUS TAXPAYER EXPENSE) from his latest family holiday in Hawaii, to shake the hand of some poor victim of tropical weather flood victim in front of his media unit.

Geoff AndrewsJanuary 10, 2022 at 5:03 pm

When other high profile sports people are outed for some minor infringement such as drink driving or getting involved in a stouthearted in a pub, they are penalised more than the average because they are setting a bad example for the young.
Unfortunately, he has given oxygen to the antivacers.

GLJanuary 10, 2022 at 5:57 pm

Now we get to see if Scummo and Crony Co. Inc. are as childish, petulant, and vindictive we know they are –

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2022/jan/10/novak-djokovic-appeal-federal-circuit-court-cancellation-australian-visa-covid-vaccination-live-updates

I don’t like Djokovic’s stance on vaccinations (which to my mind is foolish) but the feds have, yet again made us into the laughing stock of the world yet again. Will they compound their cretinous actions by finding another way of kicking Djokovic out of the country? We shall see, although I reckon Scummo will run away and hope it goes away while Pinhead Dumbbell probably won’t be able to resist spouting his usual crap.

Then again we should shout, all together now…1…2…3, “It’s all Dan’s fault!”

JosephusJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:03 pm

Yes like everything this lot does we have a total shamozzle. Seems that the tennis people made ignorant promises. For me I care nothing for this arrogant ball hitter but feel deeply ashamed of the maggots and mouldy bread the penned up refugees suffer for having broken no international law. Their windows are blacked out! Reminds me of the wanton sadism of leaving the boy prince Louis in a dark cellar to die slowly after his royal parents were guillotined. Never mind the bigoted Serb. He won’t be long in that hellhole either way. The refugees are being mistreated seemingly without end. Shame, shame.

Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:43 pm

Thanks for raising the subject, Binoy, although I’m not at all sure what you’re trying to say about where you stand.

A couple of points.: How ridiculous is it that all our internal borders have been thrown open, so that Omicron and Delta can both go forth and wreak havoc without exemptions or caveats, while some of our powers-that-be want to prevent Djokovic from entering with a medical exemption? I’m not a big fan of Djokovic, and maybe the ‘powers’ are hoping that his unpopularity will guarantee them a whole lot of votes in the forthcoming election. Funnily enough, though, sympathy for Djokovic seems to be growing. Whoops, wrong way go back? And you don’t have to be a genius to see the double standard that is fluttering from the mast.

A terrific thing has happened with regard to the attention that has been focused on the refugees in that Carlton hotel. Blacked-out windows? The spotlight is on those blacked-out windows, and on our shameful treatment of refugees who have sought asylum, thrown themselves on our mercy, and broken no laws.

Give me strength.

Terence MillsJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:48 pm

The Federal Circuit Court has reversed the ABF decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa and has reinstated the visa, returned his passport and released him from detention.

Incredibly the government are seeking to appeal this decision.

Clearly the Morrison government do not accept the authority of our court system : usually Dutton’s tactic after losing in court is to seek to change the law.

Nobody is above the law except the Morrison government !!

Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:04 pm

CB,

Yes and no. How many Australians knew about the blacked-out windows? And how many know about them now? And the rest of it?

I think, and hope, that Novak has done us a great service, however unwittingly.

pierre wilkinsonJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:25 pm

Totally agree with Josephus and Kate, bugger Novax, what about the innocent unlawfully incarcerated in detention and what that says about us as a nation
and yet our misgovernment calls out China for human rights abuse
a bit of the pot calling the kettle…
but as others have commented, what an utter debacle once again
talk about organising a piss up in a brewery
please oh please call an election soon

Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:56 pm

From Oliver Brown, the sports writer at the Telegraph:

Significant police presence at the office of Djokovic’s lawyers on Collins St, Melbourne. White vans heading into underground car park. Reports that Australian federal police heading in to arrest him. Immigration minister has four hours in which to re-cancel his visa.

Morrison and Dutton sure don’t like losing.

Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:03 pm

Michael.

Bloody hell! Are they digging a hole for themselves, or what? Imagine what History is going to say about Djokovic’s bid to stretch his Aussie Open titles to 21? History has a very long memory!

I know whose shoes I’d rather be in.

Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:10 pm

Hi, Kate. Some media in the UK (The Express) has reported that he has “allegedly” been arrested, but I haven’t seen or heard anything official.

Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:24 pm

Hi again, Kate. Despite some media here reporting that he’d been arrested, I think they might have jumped to conclusions. We’ll wait and see.

corvusboreusJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:43 pm

Kate,
Sorry, attempted post-edit caused unwanted autodelete.

I broadly agree with what you say, but am also very sceptical about the depth & longevity of any media focus on the injustices commited against asylum seekers, especially once Djokovic exits the Carlton.

For reference, compare the average minimal amount of media printspace/airtime normally given to issues around the indefinite detention of asylum/refuge seekers without charge or trial,
contrasted with the regular swathes of media and public attention obsessionally devoted to the participants and outcomes of bouncy-ball games and horsey-back races.

Here’s to the possibility of unexpected gallantry from forlorn hopes surpassing my jaded expectations.

Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:58 pm

Hi, Kate. Apparently it’s untrue.

FredJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:15 am

The lack of vaccination, narcissistic, arrogance and antivax attitude of Novax should have precluded him from receiving a visa, but if we make a system that has exemptions and allows someone to enter who supplies all of the correct paperwork despite just having had Covid, then if the ABF (antisocial buffoon force?) issues a visa it should make sure it got the decision right the first time round.

The mistake was made with the issuance.

There should not be any leeway at the airport for some jumped up megalomaniac ABF operative to arbitrarily decide they won’t let you into the country based on their “superior” assessment of previously approved paperwork. Taking exception at the quantity of prohibited goods or the colour of socks being worn might be valid grounds.

The court has decided. Should the minister decide to escalate by applying his “power” to cancel, it will again make Australia the laughing stock of the world. I can see it happening. The LNP appear to have hides thick enough to be unaffected by anti-tank rounds (no apparent concern about Australians being classified as liars, untrustworthy, arbitrary, gullible and unreliable based on their actions).

Terence MillsJanuary 11, 2022 at 9:18 am

As minister for immigration Alex Hawke said…………………………………..Oh, he didn’t say anything !

Kyle BrunningJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:23 am

Novak’s saga is stretching the limits of the believable.

I think Judge Kelly’s comment about “What more could this man do”, sums up in a nutshell a suitable response to the machinations and idiocy of the governments handling of this clusterpluck. What, in the realms of the reasonable, is required to satisfy the rules?

With all the complexity of visas, international travel, and the added chaos of the pandemic, one would think that border force, the officials, bureaucrats and ministers all would be exercising common sense and a sense of proportion and fairness in all of this but no, what we have seen is a seeming display of vindictive execution of the rools, no matter the consequences or outcomes, or consideration of the negative cost to Australia’s reputation internationally for years.

Michelle Grattan has an article today –
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/djokovic-case-shows-morrison-government-has-lost-all-perspective-20220111-p59na9.html

that discusses the issues and two things stuck out for me –

“Some commentators argue the government calculated that throwing Djokovic out would be a political distraction from the horrors of the escalating Omicron crisis.” and
“Turning Serbia’s national hero into Australia’s national villain has been harder than the government thought. It’s become an own goal for the government’s latest “operation sovereign borders” chapter.”

These parts suggest that some think maybe the government had a less than ideal set of intentions from the start. To me, the whole thing reeks of political chest beating, opportunism and attempted distraction from the pandemic ripping through Australia right now.

Maybe an opportunity to slap those uppity Victorian back in their place – how dare they run an international sporting event in relatively “under control Victoria” while NSW is in chaos. Makes NSW gov and Fed gov look bad. Also, what an opportunity to slap Harry Potter around a bit and show him who is boss, lest he get any ideas about Federal politics.

The government has bungled this just like they have bungled just about everything. If it was a deliberate stitch up, OMG how it has backfired, and so deserved.

Love Novak or hate him, we used to like to think of ourselves as good sports in OZ. How bitter and sour the governance from Canberra has turned that once good thing.

wamJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:49 am

the christians are true to form?
They are pouring thanks on god for saving novax.
Their god is true to form in saving one out of the crowd.

BenJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:53 am

Serbians are familiar with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Whoever in the Aus govt signed off on the decree that all Aus Open players must abide a MANDATE and RECEIVE an EXPERIMENTAL THERAPY before playing have volunteered themselves as a candidates for a new Nuremberg style trial. I wish them all the luck they deserve. If anything good might come out of the heavy-handed display of stupidity by officials it will be a return of an understanding in the wider community that recovery from an illness is the result of natural immunity and that this is a good thing. There is no good to come of trying whitewash out of our collective history the fact that immunity is a real thing. This human ability did not disappear from planet Earth in March 2020 when a pandemic was announced by the WHO.

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:01 am

Ben,

You show zero understanding about vaccines and immunity. Look up measles. Look up polio. Look up small pox. If your version was true, the introduction of vaccines would have made no difference to the prevalence of cases.

Just wondering Ben, do you obey the MANDATES to drive on the left hand side of the road and to wear a seat belt?

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:25 am

Ambrose,

The effectiveness of vaccines is not MY opinion – it is fact – which is why I gave examples for Ben to look up for himself.

My example about driving was to illustrate that we live with and accept many mandated things – not to imply anything other than that.

It would be irresponsible to allow health misinformation to go unchallenged. If you count that as aggression, you haven’t seen me when I am cross.

Terence MillsJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:27 am

Interesting how Australian Border Force accepted no responsibility whatsoever for allowing the Ruby Princess infected passengers to surge into the community : they argued that they weren’t responsible for the health status of humans arriving in Australia – they do accept that they are responsible for livestock and Johnny Depp’s dogs but not human beings unless they are tennis players.

Seems we have a constitutional and jurisdictional problem with a sprinkling of opportunistic politics.

Kate AhearneJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:30 am

Ambrose,

Are you and Ben a tag-team?

Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:32 am

Ambrose, I can’t believe that you considered Kaye’s comment an insult.

However, I believe that yours was.

wamJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:36 am

kaye you are using the old vaccine definition for vaccines that gave immunity.
The new definition does not afford immunity but who cares about using words out of their context? I prefer the old version and most think the new is the old??
I prefer gaol to jail??? but the septics don’t.

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:55 am

wam,

No vaccine has ever been 100% effective. The problem this time is that because the virus is SO widespread, we keep coming in contact with it, so there will be more breakthrough infections. Vaccines stimulate the production of antibodies and so are effective at reducing the risk of infection, serious illness, and death. We have to slow this thing down so we don’t all get sick at the same time.

GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:06 pm

Vaccines do not, I repeat do not, immunise against pathogens. Vaccines are used to trigger the human immune system into helping create antibodies to help ward off viruses, etc.

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/how-do-vaccines-work

Michael,

“Ambrose Quint” is one of Joe Carli’s nom de plumes.

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:06 pm

Some news outlets including Der Spiegel are claiming the Serbian website displaying test results is showing anomalies for Novak Djokovic’s positive Covid-19 test, which granted him an exemption to enter Australia.

They argue a QR code on his presented positive Covid test from 16 December – confirmation code 7371999-259039 – when scanned has linked some users to a website showing the test result was negative, not positive.

GL,

Oh that’s right. That was the name Joe used for the shopping series of stories. Enough said.

GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:32 pm

Hello there Joe. Didn’t take you long to become petty. Maybe you didn’t think anyone would notice.

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:37 pm

Vitriol?

Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:02 pm

If I google the names ; Kaye Lee..Michael Taylor..or Kate Ahearne “on Facebook” (for example), one sees at least two dozen identities for each.

What sort of deranged bullshit is that?

Or was it just a sloppy attempt of cyber-stalking?

Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:28 pm

The dead giveaway to me that it is Joe is the overuse of “…”. Joe wrote like that.

TrevorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:48 pm

Abbotts Australian para military Border Farce lives up (or down) to its operational quantifications.
Try being a visiting on water recreational vessel owner attempting to enter Aust if you want to see absolute bastardry in operation.

Kate AhearneJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:51 pm

Ambrose,

As you say, ‘Try to haul it in’.

The AIM NetworkJanuary 11, 2022 at 3:56 pm

I am aware of the bullying Mr. Joe Carli got by some insensitive posters on this site

Well you’d also be aware that Mr Joe Carli is probably the most abusive and sexist person ever to comment on this site.

The number emails we have received at The AIMN from people expressing their disgust at Mr Carli’s abusive comments towards them left us with no choice but to block him from commenting here. He was driving many people from this site, and tormenting those that remained.

GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 6:25 pm

Why does the post by Amrose read more like Joe hiding behind one his stories rather than anything that resembles a rebuttal? What was the name of the store? Where was the store located? Provide us with some sort of evidence to back up what you say or go away Joe before you start something you won’t be able finish without resorting to the tiresome “I’m a victim.” card and running away. I also seem to remember that you said you were never going to come back here again.

corvusboreusJanuary 11, 2022 at 8:55 pm

GL,
To be honest, I give more concerned thought to the sudden influx of misinformational efforts and inflammatory rhetoric from vocal anti-vaxxers.

Today ben joins garth in decrying vaccine requirements for specified activities as equally villainous with the Nazi crimes of war atrocity and genocidal murder tried at Nuremburg.
Curiously coincidental dialogues.
I suspect they may both be chorusing from the same hymnsheets.

At any rate, given the current background of COVID misinformation being deliberately and actively propagated in fringe information silos then broadcast into more mainstream channels, often to benefit extremist politics (from palmers UAP to the neonazis of the UPF),
don’t identity issues over exiled carpenters and lampshade specialists seem a bit trivial by comparison?

Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 9:45 pm

Another travesty is the continued incarceration of 70 refugees who were transferred here for medical attention. Some of these people have been locked up for 8 years. Since last December, 188 of them have been arbitrarily chosen and freed. One old guy and his son had been in hotel detention for two years and were just released in December to finally join the wife/mother who has been living in the community. It’s sheer bloody-minded cruelty.

As for Ambrose, he doesn’t seem that shy to me.

CanguroJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:44 pm

Ambrose Quint’s avatar image looks like what you’d expect to see if you looked out of the back window of your house in Sedan, SA.. sand, hard scrabble farmland and mallee trees doing it tough. Too clever by half.

GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:16 pm

Just for the heck of it –

wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 1:33 am

Vaccines do not, I repeat do not, immunise against pathogens. Wow GL vaccines most certainly are the root cause of immunity to some of the diseases caused by pathogens?
I remember years ago getting science students to argue that a virus was not a living organism? The argument mostly revolved around a virus being unable to reproduce? The reproduction is done by the organisms own cells. QED the virus is the root cause of a disease but the cell causes the disease?
ps
GL Who remembers the ‘dreaded lurgi’ as being a monumental disease and followed by the ‘nadger plague’ and ‘the spon’ plague of bare knees.???
Ah those boys knew a thing or two and were hilarious on a crystal set, we had no electricity wood stove chip heater and tilley lamps.

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:03 am

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo, Ooooo Yakka Boo.

Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:10 am

GL,

Thanks for the brilliant clip!!!

BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:53 am

The Novak saga is rooted in gov mandates to take part in phase 3 of a gene therapy trial + general public’s lack of knowledge on the history of immunity. The link below has some interesting charts that indicate improvements in sanitation and nutrition were the key to helping natural immunity reach its potential. Natural immunity became taboo in 2020 because there is no profit in it.

Let the EVIDENCE speak: Did Vaccines Save Us?

I read that the Chief Manic in Darwin is overseeing a new way of running the economy into the dirt whereby the unvaccinated are not allowed to go to work but are allowed to go shopping. This mandate to get an experimental product or starve to death once one’s saving are drawn down needs to be understood in the context of crimes against humanity.

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:19 am

Ben,

You seem to left out some information about the site and person who runs it: Robin Birch.

About

As soon as Andrew Wakefield was mentioned we can write Birch off as anything that vaguely resembles being a credible source.

Tweets by Robin_Birch
This just clinched it to show she’s yet another nut of absolutely no value.

The lunatic fringe pseudoscience/conspiracy/anti-vaxx crap you keep posting is becoming tiresome.

wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:30 am

Haha still watch children’s show, GL?
I prefer the goons. Sorry if I was wrong to assume you are old enough to have heard them.
What’s your take on masks? I am silly enough to think they are to protect others from you and are ineffective in protecting yourself?
The triple disposables(one of my xmas gifts was a 50 pack) are more effective than the flash cloth types. Although they are better than nothing.
Corvus got it right and with apologies to dolce ‘don’t toucha your face’ or for you the original will suffice.

Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:33 am

Ben,

The Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are not gene therapy because they are not designed to alter or change your genes in any way. They don’t enter the nucleus or act on DNA. They cause the ribosomes in the cell to manufacture the spike protein.

Please STOP posting ill-informed conspiracy theories that even a cursory search shows are crap.

Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:48 am

Ben,

Do you ever consider the harm you do with posts like the one you have made here?

Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:55 am

As for natural immunity becoming taboo in 2020…..

You can get some immunity by rolling the dice on catching a potentially fatal disease and hoping you (and everyone you give it to and everyone they give it to and…) are among the lucky ones.

Or you can have a vaccine that has proven to lessen the spread and severity of the disease thereby giving our workforce the time and capacity to cope. Sending potentially (or actually) sick people to work isn’t a great plan.

As you say, the government has made it your choice.

PS In NSW, over 50% of people in ICU are unvaccinated

wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:16 am

GL, exercising in the rain reminded that my poor attempt at sarcasm was unnecessary. So, sorry, and take comfort from the fact that a few of the matriculation students had trouble with understanding the concepts.
ps
wow what a great cacophony on birch!!!!!!!!!

Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:24 am

I looked at your graphs Ben. I would definitely use them to illustrate to my maths students how a graph can present a distorted picture by manipulating scale and units and restricting data to a specific time frame.

As for the info contained, seriously like wading through a steaming pile of horseshit to even waste time refuting it. Perhaps you can reconcile the theory they are pushing with this.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6945a6.htm?s_cid=mm6945a6_w

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:29 am

wam,

Been listening, and still do when the mood strikes me, The Goons since the early 70’s (when I was a teenager) discovered them one Saturday at midday on the ABC. It’s taken me almost seven years to track down all but a handful of the entire run. Favourite episodes include:

The Scarlet Capsule (send up of The Quatermass Experiment)

Tales of Men’s Shirts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP8vGmRI6I0

Masks? The friend I live buys the N95’s which I find I can tolerate more than the close fitting cloth types (I have a problem with anything on or over my face, reasons for which I will not go into) apart from the fact that they offer better protection. I found the following article a couple od days ago, it’s just an FYI:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/01/10/n95-kn95-or-cloth-masks-what-to-wear-to-best-protect-against-omicron/

It’s not easy but you can teach yourself to not continually touch your face

BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:30 am

Kaye, tell your great theory to the maniac moghuls at Moderna who brag that their “Our Operating System . . is designed so that it can plug and play interchangeably with different programs.” https://www.modernatx.com/mrna-technology/mrna-platform-enabling-drug-discovery-development This is why the definition of vaccine was recently changed, to capture gene therapy under its umbrella. I fail to see what damage is done to anyone with a thinking brain by mentioning the fact: natural immunity is a historical thing that still exists.

Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:43 am

Ben,

Yes the mRNA platform shows potential to be used against other diseases but it STILL just works on the ribosomes which have nothing to do with DNA in the nucleus which is where your genes are. It doesn’t change your genome in any way.

The damage that is done is shown in the link I provided which I assume you didn’t read. It shows how measles cases have risen dramatically since 2016, decimating unvaccinated populations like Samoa or the Congo.

Could you show me the definition of vaccine that you are referring to?

Perhaps you should read this

It’s a debunkied instagram campaign

COVID-19 vaccine ‘gene therapy’ suggestion diagnosed as false

BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:10 am

Kaye, he said she said. One of the players at the centre of this fubar is the TGA.
Here is a nice letter they received from a group of concerned medics:
https://www.covidmedicalnetwork.com/open-letters/Open-letter-TGA.pdf
Why are so many doctors weighing in on this matter at the cost of their careers? Any ideas?

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:25 am

After looking at https://www.modernatx.com/mrna-technology/mrna-platform-enabling-drug-discovery-development I think Moderna should have avoided using language that would set off alarm bells with those of a conspiracy/anti-vaxx/tin foil cap bent.

Ben, you are correct that natural immunity has always been with us but, I repeat but, there are times that that natural immunity is not enough. Vaccines provide a kick in the “bums” of the white blood cells to get our bodies to start building up some form of immunity. Have you been vaccinated Ben?

Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:42 am

The New Daily has just posted this ‘hot mic’ clip of 2 Channel 7 presenters on the subject of Djokovic.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/people-entertainment/2022/01/12/rebecca-maddern-novak-djokovic/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News%20Alert%20-%2020220112

Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:59 am

Ben,

That letter is not signed by anyone let alone a doctor. No genuine health professional would sign their name to that – it is barely literate and definitely not factual.

It seem to be coming from some sort of wannabe unions? Maybe someone who wants to represent anti-vaxxers? LNP backed groups trying to take Palaszczuk down?

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/palaszczuk-ministers-sledge-nurses-group-as-fake-union-anti-vax-campaign-20211012-p58zcp.html

https://inqld.com.au/insights/2021/08/04/so-much-for-solidarity-lawyer-led-splinter-groups-strike-trouble-in-their-bid-to-challenge-major-unions/

Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:07 pm

The Guardian Today just came out with yesterday’s figures, including 21 deaths in both NSW and Victoria.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/12/novavax-vaccine-may-be-approved-for-australia-within-months?utm_term=61de2813b3721c5f16fa52a43192e7bc&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayAUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTAU_email

wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:47 pm

spot on GL the goons were such a brilliant show where if you laughed you missed too much. Let me recommend another of pommie great 50s radio group:
My Word
imagine ‘people who stow thrones shouldn’t live in hass glouses’.

My Music is also great.

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:53 pm

Ben,

You keep posting links to nonsense sites. Let’s take a quick look at https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/about/ for starters”

Dr. Mark Trozzi – https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-doctors-covid-1.6214950 Flushes your evidence down the toilet.
Anna De Buisseret – Um, doctor? https://twitter.com/AnnadeBuisseret?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Yet another flush of the toilet.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed – A doctor?
Dr. Robert McLeod – Chiropractor and runs Vitality Centre Ltd.

Let’s have a look at Covid Medical Network – https://covidmedicalnetwork.com/
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, click on some of the links and you find this crap –

https://gbdeclaration.org/#read – the Barrington Declaration.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/ – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Health_Defense

Do I really need to keep digging?

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:57 pm

wam,

I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again and the classic –

GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 1:42 pm

This may well wind up being a double post in part because I don’t know if stuffed up on the mail address part when submitting the original post.

Ben,

Let’s have a look at Covid Medical Network shall we – https://www.covidmedicalnetwork.com/

Oh dear, oh dear. Links to the Barrington Declaration (https://gbdeclaration.org/#read) and Children’s Health Defense (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/)

Wikipedia (does have its uses) entries –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrington_Declaration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Health_Defense

You keep using fringe groups and sites to try and bolster your nonsensical arguments.

Let’s have a look at World Council for Health –

Anna De Buisseret – A doctor? Hm, employment lawyer, wow what incredible medical credentials.
https://twitter.com/AnnadeBuisseret?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Dr. Mark Trozzi – And, it appears a bit of a religious nutter.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/four-ontario-doctors-not-co-operating-with-investigations-into-covid-19-practices-medical-regulator-1.5650323

Dr. Robert McLeod – Chiropractor and runs https://vitalitycentre.co.nz/

Shabnam Palesa Mohamed – supposed journalist and an anti-vaxxer.

THJ

Not looking good for you still Ben. One last one:

Karen McKenna – A doctor? Nope, Business Administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/21/group-that-spread-false-covid-claims-doubled-facebook-interactions-in-six-months

I don’t think I need to go any further.

Michael TaylorJanuary 12, 2022 at 2:25 pm

GL, you didn’t stuff anything up.

Quite often comments with numerous links are thought to be spam, so our system grabs them for moderation.

KathrynJanuary 12, 2022 at 6:16 pm

The TRUTH is that most Australians are SICK TO THE BACK TEETH of the posturing arrogance and entitlement displayed by the irritating and extremely unpopular Novak Djokovic! Just because this anti-vaxxer can hit a frigging ball between lines on a tennis court does NOT – or should NEVER – give him the right to flought health regulations that the rest of us have to follow! The fact Djokovic chose to come into close contact with a group of vulnerable children KNOWING that he was suffering from Covid, makes him a despicable and totally irresponsible individual who should be put back on the first plane to Serbia! Most Australians couldn’t give a damn what happens to Djokovic and justifiably believe that the only game MORE boring than tennis, is cricket!

The fact that the repugnant, conniving LIARS in Morrison’s piss-poor excuse of a political party were DESPERATE to turn this issue into a MAJOR DISTRACTION in order to take attention away from Morrison’s lies, callous inhumanity, Robodebt and the increasing level of appalling and blatant corruption – as they sink to gutter level before an oncoming federal election – is yet ANOTHER level of disingenuous marketeering by the smirking bone-idle Sloth Morrison who’s ONLY success has been his self-induced notoriety as a thuggish bully who treacherously betrayed his OWN colleagues (Michael Towke and Malcolm Turnbill) in order to rise to the top (like faecal matter in a polluted pond) of the absolute WORST, most despised, totally corrupt, entitled and internationally condemned government in Australia’s history!

As usual, when the skirt-lifting misogynists, smug entitled elitists and corrupt political psychopaths in the LNP are backed into a corner, they will ALWAYS resort to the vilification of someone, division, fear, hate and WAR because when the LNP start to STINK in the polls (which is what is happening right now), they are DESPERATE to find some diversion to force us to “DON’T LOOK HERE, LOOK WAY OVER THERE!” The fact that the Lying Nefarious Parasites look like they may do a 180 degree turn and allow Djokovic (a rampantly foolish anti-vaxxer) to stay in Australia is NOT surprising! History has shown that the useless, non-achieving, bone-idle Sloth Morrison and his cabinet of woeful, self-serving political parasites in the worst government in living memory, CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT !! Even their miserable attempts at creating a storm in a teacup over Djokovic, an issue that has failed to rise much interest outside of raising national awareness that Djokovic is NOT a very likeable guy!

Kaye LeeJanuary 13, 2022 at 11:59 am

Oh dear Ben, it seems the fake nurses association got it wrong again….

Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath:

I have seen reports overnight from the nurses professional association of Queensland who have put out statements on social media saying they welcome the government’s position to allow unvaccinated healthcare workers back into the workforce.

I want to make this clear that that’s not correct.

We are not, nor are we considering welcoming back unvaccinated healthcare workers into the health system. At all.

I hope that the NPAQ immediately clarifies that statement on social media.

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Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:01 pm

Let’s add this to the long list of bumbling incompetence by the federal government.
A CommentarorJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:25 pm

Djokovic is the vaccination equivalent of a tax dodger. He’s a very wealthy man who tries to manipulate the rules for personal gain.
Pete PetrassJanuary 10, 2022 at 3:42 pm

A competent government would have never let him get on the plane in the first instance.
GarthJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:00 pm

A Commentaror,
How do you manipulate rules that the bumbling Australian Bureaucracy cannot interpret themselves. We’ve seen enough of this with the CoVid farce so it’s now the norm. Rules were made for the guidance of the intelligent and the blind obedience of the idiots.
Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:25 pm

Djokovic is the vaccination equivalent of a tax dodger.

That amused me. I like your sense of humour.
Terence MillsJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:29 pm

The federal government are trying to spin this as Djokovic wanting to be above the law and as a privileged prima donna.

But as Judge Anthony Kelly pointed out today :

The status of Djokovic’s medical exemption “preoccupied” him, describing it as a “relatively significant fact” that Djokovic had obtained an exemption from “a professor and eminently qualified physician”, which was further approved by an independent expert panel established by the Victorian state government.

“That document was in the hands of the delegate [ABF Officers who cancelled his visa]. “The point I’m somewhat agitated about is: what more could this man [Djokovic] have done?”

For some misguided reason the coalition government – Joyce is in on this too – think that there is some political advantage for them in hounding Djokovic but they may have misread the law, the electorate and the global media (again).
New England CockyJanuary 10, 2022 at 4:52 pm

@ Terence Mills: Novaxx has provided a diversion form the too regular press releases from Scummo…. when did he last perform in public??

This is the calm before the storm of media deluge leading into the 2022 election.

Expect to see Scummo preening on television from Maryborough Queensland, flown there directly (at ENORMOUS TAXPAYER EXPENSE) from his latest family holiday in Hawaii, to shake the hand of some poor victim of tropical weather flood victim in front of his media unit.
Geoff AndrewsJanuary 10, 2022 at 5:03 pm

When other high profile sports people are outed for some minor infringement such as drink driving or getting involved in a stouthearted in a pub, they are penalised more than the average because they are setting a bad example for the young.
Unfortunately, he has given oxygen to the antivacers.
GLJanuary 10, 2022 at 5:57 pm

Now we get to see if Scummo and Crony Co. Inc. are as childish, petulant, and vindictive we know they are –

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2022/jan/10/novak-djokovic-appeal-federal-circuit-court-cancellation-australian-visa-covid-vaccination-live-updates

I don’t like Djokovic’s stance on vaccinations (which to my mind is foolish) but the feds have, yet again made us into the laughing stock of the world yet again. Will they compound their cretinous actions by finding another way of kicking Djokovic out of the country? We shall see, although I reckon Scummo will run away and hope it goes away while Pinhead Dumbbell probably won’t be able to resist spouting his usual crap.

Then again we should shout, all together now…1…2…3, “It’s all Dan’s fault!”
JosephusJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:03 pm

Yes like everything this lot does we have a total shamozzle. Seems that the tennis people made ignorant promises. For me I care nothing for this arrogant ball hitter but feel deeply ashamed of the maggots and mouldy bread the penned up refugees suffer for having broken no international law. Their windows are blacked out! Reminds me of the wanton sadism of leaving the boy prince Louis in a dark cellar to die slowly after his royal parents were guillotined. Never mind the bigoted Serb. He won’t be long in that hellhole either way. The refugees are being mistreated seemingly without end. Shame, shame.
Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:43 pm

Thanks for raising the subject, Binoy, although I’m not at all sure what you’re trying to say about where you stand.

A couple of points.: How ridiculous is it that all our internal borders have been thrown open, so that Omicron and Delta can both go forth and wreak havoc without exemptions or caveats, while some of our powers-that-be want to prevent Djokovic from entering with a medical exemption? I’m not a big fan of Djokovic, and maybe the ‘powers’ are hoping that his unpopularity will guarantee them a whole lot of votes in the forthcoming election. Funnily enough, though, sympathy for Djokovic seems to be growing. Whoops, wrong way go back? And you don’t have to be a genius to see the double standard that is fluttering from the mast.

A terrific thing has happened with regard to the attention that has been focused on the refugees in that Carlton hotel. Blacked-out windows? The spotlight is on those blacked-out windows, and on our shameful treatment of refugees who have sought asylum, thrown themselves on our mercy, and broken no laws.

Give me strength.
Terence MillsJanuary 10, 2022 at 6:48 pm

The Federal Circuit Court has reversed the ABF decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa and has reinstated the visa, returned his passport and released him from detention.

Incredibly the government are seeking to appeal this decision.

Clearly the Morrison government do not accept the authority of our court system : usually Dutton’s tactic after losing in court is to seek to change the law.

Nobody is above the law except the Morrison government !!
Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:04 pm

CB,

Yes and no. How many Australians knew about the blacked-out windows? And how many know about them now? And the rest of it?

I think, and hope, that Novak has done us a great service, however unwittingly.
pierre wilkinsonJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:25 pm

Totally agree with Josephus and Kate, bugger Novax, what about the innocent unlawfully incarcerated in detention and what that says about us as a nation
and yet our misgovernment calls out China for human rights abuse
a bit of the pot calling the kettle…
but as others have commented, what an utter debacle once again
talk about organising a piss up in a brewery
please oh please call an election soon
Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 7:56 pm

From Oliver Brown, the sports writer at the Telegraph:

Significant police presence at the office of Djokovic’s lawyers on Collins St, Melbourne. White vans heading into underground car park. Reports that Australian federal police heading in to arrest him. Immigration minister has four hours in which to re-cancel his visa.

Morrison and Dutton sure don’t like losing.
Kate AhearneJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:03 pm

Michael.

Bloody hell! Are they digging a hole for themselves, or what? Imagine what History is going to say about Djokovic’s bid to stretch his Aussie Open titles to 21? History has a very long memory!

I know whose shoes I’d rather be in.
Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:10 pm

Hi, Kate. Some media in the UK (The Express) has reported that he has “allegedly” been arrested, but I haven’t seen or heard anything official.
Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:24 pm

Hi again, Kate. Despite some media here reporting that he’d been arrested, I think they might have jumped to conclusions. We’ll wait and see.
corvusboreusJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:43 pm

Kate,
Sorry, attempted post-edit caused unwanted autodelete.

I broadly agree with what you say, but am also very sceptical about the depth & longevity of any media focus on the injustices commited against asylum seekers, especially once Djokovic exits the Carlton.

For reference, compare the average minimal amount of media printspace/airtime normally given to issues around the indefinite detention of asylum/refuge seekers without charge or trial,
contrasted with the regular swathes of media and public attention obsessionally devoted to the participants and outcomes of bouncy-ball games and horsey-back races.

Here’s to the possibility of unexpected gallantry from forlorn hopes surpassing my jaded expectations.
Michael TaylorJanuary 10, 2022 at 8:58 pm

Hi, Kate. Apparently it’s untrue.
FredJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:15 am

The lack of vaccination, narcissistic, arrogance and antivax attitude of Novax should have precluded him from receiving a visa, but if we make a system that has exemptions and allows someone to enter who supplies all of the correct paperwork despite just having had Covid, then if the ABF (antisocial buffoon force?) issues a visa it should make sure it got the decision right the first time round.

The mistake was made with the issuance.

There should not be any leeway at the airport for some jumped up megalomaniac ABF operative to arbitrarily decide they won’t let you into the country based on their “superior” assessment of previously approved paperwork. Taking exception at the quantity of prohibited goods or the colour of socks being worn might be valid grounds.

The court has decided. Should the minister decide to escalate by applying his “power” to cancel, it will again make Australia the laughing stock of the world. I can see it happening. The LNP appear to have hides thick enough to be unaffected by anti-tank rounds (no apparent concern about Australians being classified as liars, untrustworthy, arbitrary, gullible and unreliable based on their actions).
Terence MillsJanuary 11, 2022 at 9:18 am

As minister for immigration Alex Hawke said…………………………………..Oh, he didn’t say anything !
Kyle BrunningJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:23 am

Novak’s saga is stretching the limits of the believable.

I think Judge Kelly’s comment about “What more could this man do”, sums up in a nutshell a suitable response to the machinations and idiocy of the governments handling of this clusterpluck. What, in the realms of the reasonable, is required to satisfy the rules?

With all the complexity of visas, international travel, and the added chaos of the pandemic, one would think that border force, the officials, bureaucrats and ministers all would be exercising common sense and a sense of proportion and fairness in all of this but no, what we have seen is a seeming display of vindictive execution of the rools, no matter the consequences or outcomes, or consideration of the negative cost to Australia’s reputation internationally for years.

Michelle Grattan has an article today –
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/djokovic-case-shows-morrison-government-has-lost-all-perspective-20220111-p59na9.html

that discusses the issues and two things stuck out for me –

“Some commentators argue the government calculated that throwing Djokovic out would be a political distraction from the horrors of the escalating Omicron crisis.” and
“Turning Serbia’s national hero into Australia’s national villain has been harder than the government thought. It’s become an own goal for the government’s latest “operation sovereign borders” chapter.”

These parts suggest that some think maybe the government had a less than ideal set of intentions from the start. To me, the whole thing reeks of political chest beating, opportunism and attempted distraction from the pandemic ripping through Australia right now.

Maybe an opportunity to slap those uppity Victorian back in their place – how dare they run an international sporting event in relatively “under control Victoria” while NSW is in chaos. Makes NSW gov and Fed gov look bad. Also, what an opportunity to slap Harry Potter around a bit and show him who is boss, lest he get any ideas about Federal politics.

The government has bungled this just like they have bungled just about everything. If it was a deliberate stitch up, OMG how it has backfired, and so deserved.

Love Novak or hate him, we used to like to think of ourselves as good sports in OZ. How bitter and sour the governance from Canberra has turned that once good thing.
wamJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:49 am

the christians are true to form?
They are pouring thanks on god for saving novax.
Their god is true to form in saving one out of the crowd.
BenJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:53 am

Serbians are familiar with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Whoever in the Aus govt signed off on the decree that all Aus Open players must abide a MANDATE and RECEIVE an EXPERIMENTAL THERAPY before playing have volunteered themselves as a candidates for a new Nuremberg style trial. I wish them all the luck they deserve. If anything good might come out of the heavy-handed display of stupidity by officials it will be a return of an understanding in the wider community that recovery from an illness is the result of natural immunity and that this is a good thing. There is no good to come of trying whitewash out of our collective history the fact that immunity is a real thing. This human ability did not disappear from planet Earth in March 2020 when a pandemic was announced by the WHO.
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:01 am

Ben,

You show zero understanding about vaccines and immunity. Look up measles. Look up polio. Look up small pox. If your version was true, the introduction of vaccines would have made no difference to the prevalence of cases.

Just wondering Ben, do you obey the MANDATES to drive on the left hand side of the road and to wear a seat belt?
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:25 am

Ambrose,

The effectiveness of vaccines is not MY opinion – it is fact – which is why I gave examples for Ben to look up for himself.

My example about driving was to illustrate that we live with and accept many mandated things – not to imply anything other than that.

It would be irresponsible to allow health misinformation to go unchallenged. If you count that as aggression, you haven’t seen me when I am cross.
Terence MillsJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:27 am

Interesting how Australian Border Force accepted no responsibility whatsoever for allowing the Ruby Princess infected passengers to surge into the community : they argued that they weren’t responsible for the health status of humans arriving in Australia – they do accept that they are responsible for livestock and Johnny Depp’s dogs but not human beings unless they are tennis players.

Seems we have a constitutional and jurisdictional problem with a sprinkling of opportunistic politics.
Kate AhearneJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:30 am

Ambrose,

Are you and Ben a tag-team?
Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:32 am

Ambrose, I can’t believe that you considered Kaye’s comment an insult.

However, I believe that yours was.
wamJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:36 am

kaye you are using the old vaccine definition for vaccines that gave immunity.
The new definition does not afford immunity but who cares about using words out of their context? I prefer the old version and most think the new is the old??
I prefer gaol to jail??? but the septics don’t.
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:55 am

wam,

No vaccine has ever been 100% effective. The problem this time is that because the virus is SO widespread, we keep coming in contact with it, so there will be more breakthrough infections. Vaccines stimulate the production of antibodies and so are effective at reducing the risk of infection, serious illness, and death. We have to slow this thing down so we don’t all get sick at the same time.
GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:06 pm

Vaccines do not, I repeat do not, immunise against pathogens. Vaccines are used to trigger the human immune system into helping create antibodies to help ward off viruses, etc.

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/how-do-vaccines-work

Michael,

“Ambrose Quint” is one of Joe Carli’s nom de plumes.
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:06 pm

Some news outlets including Der Spiegel are claiming the Serbian website displaying test results is showing anomalies for Novak Djokovic’s positive Covid-19 test, which granted him an exemption to enter Australia.

They argue a QR code on his presented positive Covid test from 16 December – confirmation code 7371999-259039 – when scanned has linked some users to a website showing the test result was negative, not positive.

GL,

Oh that’s right. That was the name Joe used for the shopping series of stories. Enough said.
GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:32 pm

Hello there Joe. Didn’t take you long to become petty. Maybe you didn’t think anyone would notice.
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 12:37 pm

Vitriol?
Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:02 pm

If I google the names ; Kaye Lee..Michael Taylor..or Kate Ahearne “on Facebook” (for example), one sees at least two dozen identities for each.

What sort of deranged bullshit is that?

Or was it just a sloppy attempt of cyber-stalking?
Michael TaylorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:28 pm

The dead giveaway to me that it is Joe is the overuse of “…”. Joe wrote like that.
TrevorJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:48 pm

Abbotts Australian para military Border Farce lives up (or down) to its operational quantifications.
Try being a visiting on water recreational vessel owner attempting to enter Aust if you want to see absolute bastardry in operation.
Kate AhearneJanuary 11, 2022 at 1:51 pm

Ambrose,

As you say, ‘Try to haul it in’.
The AIM NetworkJanuary 11, 2022 at 3:56 pm

I am aware of the bullying Mr. Joe Carli got by some insensitive posters on this site

Well you’d also be aware that Mr Joe Carli is probably the most abusive and sexist person ever to comment on this site.

The number emails we have received at The AIMN from people expressing their disgust at Mr Carli’s abusive comments towards them left us with no choice but to block him from commenting here. He was driving many people from this site, and tormenting those that remained.
GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 6:25 pm

Why does the post by Amrose read more like Joe hiding behind one his stories rather than anything that resembles a rebuttal? What was the name of the store? Where was the store located? Provide us with some sort of evidence to back up what you say or go away Joe before you start something you won’t be able finish without resorting to the tiresome “I’m a victim.” card and running away. I also seem to remember that you said you were never going to come back here again.
corvusboreusJanuary 11, 2022 at 8:55 pm

GL,
To be honest, I give more concerned thought to the sudden influx of misinformational efforts and inflammatory rhetoric from vocal anti-vaxxers.

Today ben joins garth in decrying vaccine requirements for specified activities as equally villainous with the Nazi crimes of war atrocity and genocidal murder tried at Nuremburg.
Curiously coincidental dialogues.
I suspect they may both be chorusing from the same hymnsheets.

At any rate, given the current background of COVID misinformation being deliberately and actively propagated in fringe information silos then broadcast into more mainstream channels, often to benefit extremist politics (from palmers UAP to the neonazis of the UPF),
don’t identity issues over exiled carpenters and lampshade specialists seem a bit trivial by comparison?
Kaye LeeJanuary 11, 2022 at 9:45 pm

Another travesty is the continued incarceration of 70 refugees who were transferred here for medical attention. Some of these people have been locked up for 8 years. Since last December, 188 of them have been arbitrarily chosen and freed. One old guy and his son had been in hotel detention for two years and were just released in December to finally join the wife/mother who has been living in the community. It’s sheer bloody-minded cruelty.

As for Ambrose, he doesn’t seem that shy to me.
CanguroJanuary 11, 2022 at 10:44 pm

Ambrose Quint’s avatar image looks like what you’d expect to see if you looked out of the back window of your house in Sedan, SA.. sand, hard scrabble farmland and mallee trees doing it tough. Too clever by half.
GLJanuary 11, 2022 at 11:16 pm

Just for the heck of it –
wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 1:33 am

Vaccines do not, I repeat do not, immunise against pathogens. Wow GL vaccines most certainly are the root cause of immunity to some of the diseases caused by pathogens?
I remember years ago getting science students to argue that a virus was not a living organism? The argument mostly revolved around a virus being unable to reproduce? The reproduction is done by the organisms own cells. QED the virus is the root cause of a disease but the cell causes the disease?
ps
GL Who remembers the ‘dreaded lurgi’ as being a monumental disease and followed by the ‘nadger plague’ and ‘the spon’ plague of bare knees.???
Ah those boys knew a thing or two and were hilarious on a crystal set, we had no electricity wood stove chip heater and tilley lamps.
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:03 am

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo, Ooooo Yakka Boo.
Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:10 am

GL,

Thanks for the brilliant clip!!!
BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 8:53 am

The Novak saga is rooted in gov mandates to take part in phase 3 of a gene therapy trial + general public’s lack of knowledge on the history of immunity. The link below has some interesting charts that indicate improvements in sanitation and nutrition were the key to helping natural immunity reach its potential. Natural immunity became taboo in 2020 because there is no profit in it.

Let the EVIDENCE speak: Did Vaccines Save Us?

I read that the Chief Manic in Darwin is overseeing a new way of running the economy into the dirt whereby the unvaccinated are not allowed to go to work but are allowed to go shopping. This mandate to get an experimental product or starve to death once one’s saving are drawn down needs to be understood in the context of crimes against humanity.
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:19 am

Ben,

You seem to left out some information about the site and person who runs it: Robin Birch.

About

As soon as Andrew Wakefield was mentioned we can write Birch off as anything that vaguely resembles being a credible source.

Tweets by Robin_Birch
This just clinched it to show she’s yet another nut of absolutely no value.

The lunatic fringe pseudoscience/conspiracy/anti-vaxx crap you keep posting is becoming tiresome.
wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:30 am

Haha still watch children’s show, GL?
I prefer the goons. Sorry if I was wrong to assume you are old enough to have heard them.
What’s your take on masks? I am silly enough to think they are to protect others from you and are ineffective in protecting yourself?
The triple disposables(one of my xmas gifts was a 50 pack) are more effective than the flash cloth types. Although they are better than nothing.
Corvus got it right and with apologies to dolce ‘don’t toucha your face’ or for you the original will suffice.
Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:33 am

Ben,

The Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are not gene therapy because they are not designed to alter or change your genes in any way. They don’t enter the nucleus or act on DNA. They cause the ribosomes in the cell to manufacture the spike protein.

Please STOP posting ill-informed conspiracy theories that even a cursory search shows are crap.
Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:48 am

Ben,

Do you ever consider the harm you do with posts like the one you have made here?
Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 9:55 am

As for natural immunity becoming taboo in 2020…..

You can get some immunity by rolling the dice on catching a potentially fatal disease and hoping you (and everyone you give it to and everyone they give it to and…) are among the lucky ones.

Or you can have a vaccine that has proven to lessen the spread and severity of the disease thereby giving our workforce the time and capacity to cope. Sending potentially (or actually) sick people to work isn’t a great plan.

As you say, the government has made it your choice.

PS In NSW, over 50% of people in ICU are unvaccinated
wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:16 am

GL, exercising in the rain reminded that my poor attempt at sarcasm was unnecessary. So, sorry, and take comfort from the fact that a few of the matriculation students had trouble with understanding the concepts.
ps
wow what a great cacophony on birch!!!!!!!!!
Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:24 am

I looked at your graphs Ben. I would definitely use them to illustrate to my maths students how a graph can present a distorted picture by manipulating scale and units and restricting data to a specific time frame.

As for the info contained, seriously like wading through a steaming pile of horseshit to even waste time refuting it. Perhaps you can reconcile the theory they are pushing with this.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6945a6.htm?s_cid=mm6945a6_w
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:29 am

wam,

Been listening, and still do when the mood strikes me, The Goons since the early 70’s (when I was a teenager) discovered them one Saturday at midday on the ABC. It’s taken me almost seven years to track down all but a handful of the entire run. Favourite episodes include:

The Scarlet Capsule (send up of The Quatermass Experiment)

Tales of Men’s Shirts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP8vGmRI6I0

Masks? The friend I live buys the N95’s which I find I can tolerate more than the close fitting cloth types (I have a problem with anything on or over my face, reasons for which I will not go into) apart from the fact that they offer better protection. I found the following article a couple od days ago, it’s just an FYI:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2022/01/10/n95-kn95-or-cloth-masks-what-to-wear-to-best-protect-against-omicron/

It’s not easy but you can teach yourself to not continually touch your face
BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:30 am

Kaye, tell your great theory to the maniac moghuls at Moderna who brag that their “Our Operating System . . is designed so that it can plug and play interchangeably with different programs.” https://www.modernatx.com/mrna-technology/mrna-platform-enabling-drug-discovery-development This is why the definition of vaccine was recently changed, to capture gene therapy under its umbrella. I fail to see what damage is done to anyone with a thinking brain by mentioning the fact: natural immunity is a historical thing that still exists.
Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 10:43 am

Ben,

Yes the mRNA platform shows potential to be used against other diseases but it STILL just works on the ribosomes which have nothing to do with DNA in the nucleus which is where your genes are. It doesn’t change your genome in any way.

The damage that is done is shown in the link I provided which I assume you didn’t read. It shows how measles cases have risen dramatically since 2016, decimating unvaccinated populations like Samoa or the Congo.

Could you show me the definition of vaccine that you are referring to?

Perhaps you should read this

It’s a debunkied instagram campaign

COVID-19 vaccine ‘gene therapy’ suggestion diagnosed as false
BenJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:10 am

Kaye, he said she said. One of the players at the centre of this fubar is the TGA.
Here is a nice letter they received from a group of concerned medics:
https://www.covidmedicalnetwork.com/open-letters/Open-letter-TGA.pdf
Why are so many doctors weighing in on this matter at the cost of their careers? Any ideas?
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:25 am

After looking at https://www.modernatx.com/mrna-technology/mrna-platform-enabling-drug-discovery-development I think Moderna should have avoided using language that would set off alarm bells with those of a conspiracy/anti-vaxx/tin foil cap bent.

Ben, you are correct that natural immunity has always been with us but, I repeat but, there are times that that natural immunity is not enough. Vaccines provide a kick in the “bums” of the white blood cells to get our bodies to start building up some form of immunity. Have you been vaccinated Ben?
Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:42 am

The New Daily has just posted this ‘hot mic’ clip of 2 Channel 7 presenters on the subject of Djokovic.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/people-entertainment/2022/01/12/rebecca-maddern-novak-djokovic/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News%20Alert%20-%2020220112
Kaye LeeJanuary 12, 2022 at 11:59 am

Ben,

That letter is not signed by anyone let alone a doctor. No genuine health professional would sign their name to that – it is barely literate and definitely not factual.

It seem to be coming from some sort of wannabe unions? Maybe someone who wants to represent anti-vaxxers? LNP backed groups trying to take Palaszczuk down?

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/palaszczuk-ministers-sledge-nurses-group-as-fake-union-anti-vax-campaign-20211012-p58zcp.html

https://inqld.com.au/insights/2021/08/04/so-much-for-solidarity-lawyer-led-splinter-groups-strike-trouble-in-their-bid-to-challenge-major-unions/
Kate AhearneJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:07 pm

The Guardian Today just came out with yesterday’s figures, including 21 deaths in both NSW and Victoria.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/12/novavax-vaccine-may-be-approved-for-australia-within-months?utm_term=61de2813b3721c5f16fa52a43192e7bc&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayAUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTAU_email
wamJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:47 pm

spot on GL the goons were such a brilliant show where if you laughed you missed too much. Let me recommend another of pommie great 50s radio group:
My Word
imagine ‘people who stow thrones shouldn’t live in hass glouses’.

My Music is also great.
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:53 pm

Ben,

You keep posting links to nonsense sites. Let’s take a quick look at https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/about/ for starters”

Dr. Mark Trozzi – https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-doctors-covid-1.6214950 Flushes your evidence down the toilet.
Anna De Buisseret – Um, doctor? https://twitter.com/AnnadeBuisseret?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Yet another flush of the toilet.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed – A doctor?
Dr. Robert McLeod – Chiropractor and runs Vitality Centre Ltd.

Let’s have a look at Covid Medical Network – https://covidmedicalnetwork.com/
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, click on some of the links and you find this crap –

https://gbdeclaration.org/#read – the Barrington Declaration.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/ – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Health_Defense

Do I really need to keep digging?
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 12:57 pm

wam,

I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again and the classic –
GLJanuary 12, 2022 at 1:42 pm

This may well wind up being a double post in part because I don’t know if stuffed up on the mail address part when submitting the original post.

Ben,

Let’s have a look at Covid Medical Network shall we – https://www.covidmedicalnetwork.com/

Oh dear, oh dear. Links to the Barrington Declaration (https://gbdeclaration.org/#read) and Children’s Health Defense (https://childrenshealthdefense.org/)

Wikipedia (does have its uses) entries –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrington_Declaration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Health_Defense

You keep using fringe groups and sites to try and bolster your nonsensical arguments.

Let’s have a look at World Council for Health –

Anna De Buisseret – A doctor? Hm, employment lawyer, wow what incredible medical credentials.
https://twitter.com/AnnadeBuisseret?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Dr. Mark Trozzi – And, it appears a bit of a religious nutter.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/four-ontario-doctors-not-co-operating-with-investigations-into-covid-19-practices-medical-regulator-1.5650323

Dr. Robert McLeod – Chiropractor and runs https://vitalitycentre.co.nz/

Shabnam Palesa Mohamed – supposed journalist and an anti-vaxxer.

THJ

Not looking good for you still Ben. One last one:

Karen McKenna – A doctor? Nope, Business Administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/21/group-that-spread-false-covid-claims-doubled-facebook-interactions-in-six-months

I don’t think I need to go any further.
Michael TaylorJanuary 12, 2022 at 2:25 pm

GL, you didn’t stuff anything up.

Quite often comments with numerous links are thought to be spam, so our system grabs them for moderation.
KathrynJanuary 12, 2022 at 6:16 pm

The TRUTH is that most Australians are SICK TO THE BACK TEETH of the posturing arrogance and entitlement displayed by the irritating and extremely unpopular Novak Djokovic! Just because this anti-vaxxer can hit a frigging ball between lines on a tennis court does NOT – or should NEVER – give him the right to flought health regulations that the rest of us have to follow! The fact Djokovic chose to come into close contact with a group of vulnerable children KNOWING that he was suffering from Covid, makes him a despicable and totally irresponsible individual who should be put back on the first plane to Serbia! Most Australians couldn’t give a damn what happens to Djokovic and justifiably believe that the only game MORE boring than tennis, is cricket!

The fact that the repugnant, conniving LIARS in Morrison’s piss-poor excuse of a political party were DESPERATE to turn this issue into a MAJOR DISTRACTION in order to take attention away from Morrison’s lies, callous inhumanity, Robodebt and the increasing level of appalling and blatant corruption – as they sink to gutter level before an oncoming federal election – is yet ANOTHER level of disingenuous marketeering by the smirking bone-idle Sloth Morrison who’s ONLY success has been his self-induced notoriety as a thuggish bully who treacherously betrayed his OWN colleagues (Michael Towke and Malcolm Turnbill) in order to rise to the top (like faecal matter in a polluted pond) of the absolute WORST, most despised, totally corrupt, entitled and internationally condemned government in Australia’s history!

As usual, when the skirt-lifting misogynists, smug entitled elitists and corrupt political psychopaths in the LNP are backed into a corner, they will ALWAYS resort to the vilification of someone, division, fear, hate and WAR because when the LNP start to STINK in the polls (which is what is happening right now), they are DESPERATE to find some diversion to force us to “DON’T LOOK HERE, LOOK WAY OVER THERE!” The fact that the Lying Nefarious Parasites look like they may do a 180 degree turn and allow Djokovic (a rampantly foolish anti-vaxxer) to stay in Australia is NOT surprising! History has shown that the useless, non-achieving, bone-idle Sloth Morrison and his cabinet of woeful, self-serving political parasites in the worst government in living memory, CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT !! Even their miserable attempts at creating a storm in a teacup over Djokovic, an issue that has failed to rise much interest outside of raising national awareness that Djokovic is NOT a very likeable guy!
Kaye LeeJanuary 13, 2022 at 11:59 am

Oh dear Ben, it seems the fake nurses association got it wrong again….

Queensland health minister Yvette D’Ath:

I have seen reports overnight from the nurses professional association of Queensland who have put out statements on social media saying they welcome the government’s position to allow unvaccinated healthcare workers back into the workforce.

I want to make this clear that that’s not correct.

We are not, nor are we considering welcoming back unvaccinated healthcare workers into the health system. At all.

I hope that the NPAQ immediately clarifies that statement on social media.

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