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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Dan is dead
- Thread starter LeeToRainesToRoach
- Start date
Correct, I don’t like him either but to be fair to him this is a State issue.
Both Federal and State Governments operate under the Westminster system.
Therefore the buck technically stops with the Victorian Health Minister, but under this system the Premier is also accountable.
It is incomprehensible that Andrews knew nothing about this decision beforehand and he has failed to act on it.
You can dice it any way you like, but regardless, this is a massive leadership failure and that starts at the top. The double standards are impossible to ignore. If you are just a common worker and you don’t get vaccinated you are likely to lose your job. Seems if you are a foreign tennis superstar, she’ll be right mate.
Do you know how many of these exemptions have been granted in WA? Four across the entire state as of Christmas Eve. Four, all on medical grounds. I find it laughable that Djokovic can have a medical condition so serious that he can be exempt from a vaccine we all have to have, yet is still fit enough to be the world No.1 tennis player for so long.
Looking from afar (WA) I have often felt Andrews has been unfairly demonised over many aspects of COVID management in Victoria.
But this beggars belief.
Huh?
Granting a visa is a Federal decision. Novax must have sought a vax exemption for his visa (or he is vaxxed) and this can only be granted by the Federal government.
Both Federal and State governments have to take heat on this. Apparently the applications for exemptions are assessed blind, ie: they don't know who the app is from, so clearly the rules are incorrect somewhere if Novax gets an exemption because he had the virus in the last 6 months (which seems a silly exemption for any situation, not just the tennis).
DS
But the Victorian government did grant him a medical exemption to play in the AO; apparently due to him being previously infected by COVID. After all the forceful communication about vaccination mandates (with which I agree) that is a mind boggling and quite frankly absolutely stupid decision. They should be held to account for that.
Some peeps are very keen to pin the blame on Andrews for anything right now but this article suggests otherwise and comes from someone who's familiar with immigration processes.
www.theage.com.au
Djokovic farce at airport the product of a chain of Australian failures
Why did Home Affairs grant Djokovic a visa in the first place?
Independent panel, each app assessed without knowing who the applicant was, exemptions as per the ATAGI guidelines - if Novax was already in Australia it looks like he would fit the criteria to play. The visa on the other hand . . .
DS
The applicants being blind is the key here. The state Government has been vocal & consistent in saying unvaccinated players can play if they have a medical exemption but otherwise can’t play. Who are they to say to ATAGI a player can’t come if they’ve been medically approved?
The main question is how did Novak get a Federal Visa to come in the first place given ‘rules are rules’.
The main question is how did Novak get a Federal Visa to come in the first place given ‘rules are rules’.
Again, the independent medical panels did that based on predetermined ATAGI guidelines.
I notice that Morrison has changed his tune too. In the hours before the plane Djokovic was on landed, Morrison said that the Victorian government had given Djokovic an exemption.
He is now blaming Tennis Australia. His double speak rivals Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has laid the blame on Tennis Australia (TA) and Novak Djokovic in the tennis star’s deportation saga, claiming ‘clear advice’ on vaccine exemptions was ignored.
Prime minister lays blame on Tennis Australia and Djokovic in deportation saga
The world No.1 is set to board a flight out of Australia as early as today, pending legal action.
7news.com.au
Let's not get confused.....Aha, finally we get to the bottom of the Novax visa debacle, Border Force were processing the visa app on their wizz bang new system:
But something went wrong and they stuffed up.
DS
