The Saga Continues

A reader pointed me in the direction of a You Tube video of Nigel Farage commenting upon the Novak Djokovic saga in Australia <link here>.

I must say I’m very disappointed with Nigel.  I would have expected him to do his research and be factually accurate.  His article is mostly opinion with every presented ‘fact’ being incorrect.

Nigel claims if you look at the information on the Victorian State Government website Djokovic met the requirement for a medical exemption from the Australian COVID vaccine requirements. 

My first point is the Victorian State Government doesn’t have the legal power to provide medical exemptions for people wanting to enter Australia.  Those powers are vested in the Federal Government.  Nigel’s argument is similar to claiming the City of London has power to decide the conditions under which people can enter the UK.

The second point is Nigel provides no reference or link to his assertion the Victorian State Government has provided such an exemption.  If you go to the relevant part of the State website  <link here> and download the document titled Medical Exemption to COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance the relevant sections are:

A patient must have medical contraindications to all of the COVID-19 vaccines available for use in Australia in order to be medically exempted from COVID-19 vaccination.  

[contraindictions means having the vaccine may be harmful eg, an underlying health condition]

If your patient meets the criteria for a medical contraindication to one or more COVID-19 vaccinations or a temporary exemption due to acute major medical illness, you should file this completed form in the patient’s medical record and proceed with completing the Australian Immunisation Registry (AIR) – immunisation medical exemption form (IM011). The IM011 form should then be returned to Services Australia, Australian Immunisation Register, for uploading to the patient’s Immunisation Record. Following validation, a COVID-19 Medical Exemption Certificate will be issued if the patient has a medical contraindication to all COVID-19 vaccines available for use in Australia, or if temporary exemption criteria are met.

It is quite clear from the above paragraph that the conditions refer to citizens who reside within the State of Victoria.

The last line on the form states

This form is not intended to be used as evidence of COVID-19 vaccination exemption

The Federal Minister of Health had previously advised Tennis Australia the Australian Immunisation Registry was only applicable to citizens and permanent residents in Australia. 

Nigel’s case is like a house of cards and it fell apart when the first card failed.

  

An Assessment of the Current Situation

The Federal Government is now between a rock and a hard place.   An overwhelming percentage of the population have accepted strict travel and other social activity measures as part of the effort to control the spread of COVID.  The average Aussie strongly believes in equality with; to repeat a very recent quote from the Prime Minister; ‘One rule for all!’  They get very angry when it’s so blatant there is preferential treatment for the ‘big end of town’   Moreover it’s predicted there will be a Federal election on or before May of this year and the current government isn’t popular.  The Federal Government needs to appear firm and in control.

The court overturned the cancellation of Djokovic’s visa on the grounds he hadn’t been given procedural fairness in that Border Force had not given him sufficient time to contact his legal team and Tennis Australia.  Those conditions no longer exist.

The Federal Minister for Immigration does have the power to cancel Djokovic’s visa and is reported as considering the circumstances.  

Will the minister cancel Djokovic’s visa? 

If he does the matter will go back to court; probably with an injunction allowing Djokovic to participate in the tournament.  It’s possible the tournament would le over before the case was finalized.   If the minister does nothing then it will be yet another nail in the current government’s coffin immediately prior to an election.

[Rock and Hard Place] 

Brian

Social media posts and photos do tend to show Djokovic was moving around in the community unprotected whilst positive to COVID.  There are now allegations he provided a false arrival declaration to Australian officials when he answer ‘No’ to the written question whether he had visited other countries in the 14 days prior to his arrival.  The allegation is he was in both Serbia and Spain.  Obviously his family didn’t like the question as they immediately terminated their press conference when it was asked.

Apparently Australian Border Force officials are investigating.  Providing false information to Border Force carries a maximum 12 month jail sentence.

Something More Interesting

I did something crazy and went for a one hour bike ride a midday.  Damn near melted at the furthest point from home.  Fortunately I had the water bottle (note to self to refill the bottle and add electrolite).

You may remember the photo I took of the public bike repair station on one of my first rides.

This is what it looks like today

 

Theft…. or removed for repair?

There is a sign opposite showing distances on the cycleway along with locations of interest.

It’s 35km from this point (Lightning Swamp) to Muchea in the north.  One day I might manage that.

Finally,  I was tempted to do the new home COVID-19 test yesterday evening.