The fiercest match took place before the Australian Open even kicked off. For ten days, world tennis star Novak Djokovic and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced off in front of cameras around the world. Final score: a humiliating defeat for both players.
Originally, the 53-year-old head of government preferred to stay away from controversy. But interfering in the “Djokovic affair” seemed too tempting for this former marketing manager, always on the lookout for a media buzz. The Serbian player, known for his opposition to vaccination, had benefited from a free pass from the local authorities to come and defend his title in Melbourne, from mid-January.
Pushed by the popular revolt, Morrison finally decides to intervene and orders the arrest of “Djoko” at the border. The beginning of an uncontrollable spiral… “It’s not for nothing that the Prime Minister is nicknamed ‘Scotty from marketing’, laughs a European diplomat in Australia. He loves the communication shots that can bring him back on the electoral plan, especially when he is going through a bad patch in the polls. But by getting involved in the Djokovic affair, he is royally planted.
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Australia and its troubles in the spotlight
Upon his arrival in Melbourne, the tennis player was detained and interrogated overnight without a lawyer, before being detained in a shabby hotel for several days. The international spotlight then turned to Australia and two controversial aspects of its policy: its management of refugees and that of the pandemic.
A former immigration minister, Morrison advocates zero tolerance for exiles arriving in Australia. These are parked in detention centres, sometimes for several years, pending deportation. Despite his status, Djokovic finds himself locked up among them. “The fear campaign orchestrated by the authorities jumped out at this sequence, said Rodney Tiffen, a political scientist at the University of Sydney. Australians expect more humanity in their care, but the government opposes it in brandishing the threat of mass arrivals by boat.”
The testimonies of the refugees locked up with Djokovic do not help Australia’s image abroad, already tarnished by the termination of the mega submarine contract with France last September, for the benefit of the United States and Great Britain. After this betrayal, Emmanuel Macron had qualified Scott Morrison – who claimed to have warned Paris of the change to come – as a “liar” during the G20… A qualifier which left its mark in public opinion. “The contract as such did not interest the Australians, but the lies of their Prime Minister spread out in the public square had a resounding impact”, underlines an observer on the spot.
Omicron and the Aussie mess
More serious for Morrison, the Djokovic affair highlights its contradictions in the face of Covid-19. For eighteen months, the island-continent chose to isolate its fellow citizens from the rest of the world, limiting the number of cases and deaths as much as possible (less than 3000, for 25 million inhabitants). But, last fall, the Prime Minister radically changed his strategy and put an end to all restrictions, believing that it was now necessary to “learn to live with the virus”.
The Omicron variant, ultra-contagious even in vaccinated people, is then free to do damage: explosion of cases, overwhelmed hospitals, paralysis of the economy, shortage of Covid tests… “In public opinion, the Djokovic affair resonates with the management of Omicron by the government, a mixture of improvisation and incompetence, underlines Rodney Tiffen. The logistical failures cause immense frustration at all levels and the government is in a very bad position.”
A setback difficult to digest for Scott Morrison, who is playing his political survival during the legislative elections in May. After the Djokovic affair, the polls give his Labor opponents a nearly 10-point lead. Certainly, the world No. 1 will not be able to compete in the Australian Open, but he may enjoy his revenge in the spring, if Morrison is beaten.
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