CV and mad panic behaviour

[madbluboy]

There could hardly be a more damning illustration of Australia’s double standards on COVID-19. On Friday night, Matthew Wade, wicketkeeper for the host nation at the T20 World Cup, is competing against England in Melbourne despite having tested positive for the virus.

In the meantime, Novak Djokovic, still scarred by his deportation at the whim of a government desperate to demonise the unvaccinated, languishes in confusion as to whether he will even be allowed into the country to chase his 10th Australian Open title.

The inconsistency of the rules is enough to make you scream.

We saw as much at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where, after 10 days of fervent mask-wearing and bubble-forming befitting Australia’s perception of England as a plague zone, the green-and-gold fielded Tahlia McGrath for the women’s T20 final regardless of the fact she was COVID-positive.

Somehow, it perfectly encapsulated the hypocrisy that has defined much of Australia’s hard-line pandemic response. If there is a piece of dutiful COVID theatre to perform, its athletes are first in the queue. But if there is a match to be won, all protocols go out of the window.

In one sense, the relaxations are to be welcomed. But in another, they expose the absurdity of what is still happening to Djokovic. The Serb remains scarred by his ordeal last winter, where he was incarcerated in a glorified Melbourne detention centre, then finally thrown out of Australia after the immigration minister ruled he could be a lightning rod for anti-vaxxers. It was, as the Australian Lawyers’ Alliance put it, an “Orwellian” decision that punished Djokovic more for the way he thought than the way he acted.