Rita Panahi: The mass lunacy afflicting Australia is nothing to be proud of

We have among the highest vaccination rates in the world and yet appear incapable of learning to live with a virus we all know will be endemic.

Australians have never cared much what the rest of the world thinks of us but right now we should care.

The current mass lunacy that is afflicting our country is nothing to be proud of and will ensure ordinary Australians, not tennis stars, continue to be stripped of their liberties and forced to abide by illogical, ineffective restrictions for many months to come.

Let’s be 100 per cent clear, despite what the shock jocks and politicians with an eye on opinion polls tell you, Novak Djokovic wasn’t deported for lying on his application or for not qualifying for an exemption; the government admitted that he was deported like a criminal because, according to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, his presence in the country “may lead to an increase in anti-vaccination sentiment” and even “civil unrest”.

Djokovic was essentially deported for thought crimes; for allegedly inspiring anti-vaxxer sentiment and becoming an icon of free choice. This despite the government acknowledging that Djokovic’s recent Covid-19 infection meant he was a “negligible risk to those around him”.

Novak Djokovic was essentially deported for thought crimes. Pictures: AFP

And yet it was a decision the Prime Minister said was made on health and safety grounds.

As if Novak’s mere presence posed a danger to the Australian public.

The mass psychosis or Stockholm syndrome we’re afflicted with in this country isn’t limited to deporting the world’s No. 1 tennis player.

It is evident in the way we are treating each other, we are seeing formerly sane rational people turning on each other and allowing fear to totally distort their perspective.

The unchecked hysteria is evident in the numbers of people showing up to hospitals or calling triple-0 with mild symptoms.

It is evident in the stockpiling of toilet paper, Panadol and rapid antigen tests.

We have among the highest vaccination rates in the world and yet appear incapable of learning to live with a virus we all know will be endemic.

It seems after enduring record lockdowns, curfews, border restrictions, school closures, mask mandates and other illiberal restrictions many Australians have lost all perspective and rather than direct their anger at those in power they’d rather blame a tennis star who fought for his rights.

The unchecked hysteria is evident in the stockpiling of toilet paper, Panadol and rapid antigen tests. Picture: Dylan Robinson

That misdirected rage has been picked up on by commentators overseas.

Dan Wootton wrote: “Rather than question the complete collapse of a failed Zero Covid policy that has wrought so much long-term damage on Australia, it’s much easier for political leaders and the media to try and blame someone like Djokovic, who goes against the Covid orthodoxy”.

Damian Reilly wrote: “Quite possibly the world’s healthiest man has been deemed a danger to public health in a nation where two thirds of adults are overweight or obese by a government that has, at various points over the last two years, done a more than passable impression of having gone completely nuts. Even during the worst stages of the pandemic here in the UK, I have often given silent thanks that I do not live in Australia, which as the months have slowly ticked by has increasingly revealed an authoritarian zealousness matched only by China and other tyrannical regimes”.

Tom Slater wrote: “The fact is, he was deported for what he believes, and that risks setting a chilling precedent ... the idea that one tennis player could single-handedly send anti-vax sentiment soaring in this overwhelmingly pro-vax nation implies Australians are dimwits who uncritically take moral instruction from their favourite sports stars”.

Does our government think we are so thick as to blindly follow a tennis player? How many people who weren’t going to get vaccinated are going to rush out for their jab because Novak is no longer in the country? It’s clear the government cynically made this decision with an eye on the polls.

It’s clear the Morrison government cynically made the decision to deport Djokovic with an eye on the polls. Picture: Gary Ramage

The more prudent path would have been to let the decision stand, particularly given it was the Victorian government who appointed the panel that approved Djokovic’s entry. Within a couple of days the controversy would have been forgotten and the Australian Open would’ve had an extra element of spice. But the Morrison government decided this was the issue they were going to prosecute with gusto.

Let’s not forget that this feckless lot didn’t go into battle for your rights when state governments imposed absurd, illogical and often inhumane restrictions keeping loved ones separated.

They didn’t go into battle when grieving children were prevented from attending their parents’ funerals, or when mothers were separated from their children, or when burns victims were forced to travel further for critical care, or when desperate people were not allowed to enter their home state even on compassionate grounds.

We had thousands of Victorians stranded for months in NSW unable to return home but the federal government didn’t fight for them or for women trying to have children via IVF whose treatments have been cancelled.

No, the federal government stood by and allowed the states to impose the most draconian, destructive and sometimes cruel restrictions and kept signing cheques that enabled the premiers’ buffoonery.

But when it came to the world’s best tennis player, they decided to pull out all the stops.

And, according to the polls the majority of Australians are cheering on this political posturing even as the country records some of the highest per capita Covid rates in the world.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist