What exactly is the problem of Australia? The Djokovic case has now revealed that.

What exactly is the problem of Australia? The Djokovic case has now revealed that.

That view was expressed by Alistair Walsh, a journalist from Australia, for Deutsche Welle.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic is experiencing the brutality of Australia's border policy first hand. He received a visa and was encouraged to board the plane, despite his skeptical views on vaccines.

However, the court in Melbourne ruled in favor of the 34-year-old tennis star and ordered his immediate release from the deportation hotel.

But success in court does not guarantee that Novak Djokovic, as a defending champion, can participate in the Australian Open on January 17. The Australian government has already announced that it will reconsider Djokovic's visa. Many Australians see the presence of unvaccinated Djokovic as an insult to the stoic efforts of Melbourne residents, who have been imprisoned for months and vaccinated en masse even if in doubt. The denial of entry to the tennis player therefore met with their approval.

However, that decision could have been made before he set off. But last-minute change provided another political victory: it caused a mini-border crisis and worked a miracle - diverting attention from the disastrous pandemic management of the Australian government.

Cruelty as a strategy

It was an easy double victory. And it follows Australia's worn-out scenario of raising political capital out of cruelty at the border. For decades, Australian politicians of all colors have used border control as a lever for political manipulation and deterrence from their domestic mistakes.

Djokovic - what an ironic game of fate - was detained in the same hotel as dozens of refugees and asylum seekers. Seemingly in an eternal state of uncertainty, they cannot come in, nor can they come out.

And their detention is still relatively luxurious compared to the accidents of other asylum seekers in Australia - thousands of them are in detention centers on the coast. They are all victims of cruelty at the border. This obsession with border control seems incompatible with the classic nation of migrants. But - it is deeply rooted in the culture of Australia.

Now the whole world sees it

I have always known that Australia's border policy is inhumane. Now it is perceived that way all over the world. But for Australia to be able to give up its own citizens and coldly separate families, that was unthinkable for me.

If Djokovic is allowed to enter after all: Great for him! But his bizarre situation has made Australia's Kafkaesque border regime visible to the world. Australia must seize the moment to rethink its fortification policy and put the welfare of the people above cheap political points.