The tennis player may be unjabbed, but he did what was asked of him to access the country
There is so far only one lesson in the “acquittal” of the tennis player Novak Djokovic on a charge of seeking to enter Australia unvaccinated. It is that something is badly wrong with that country’s border controls.
The judge found that the tennis star had met all reasonable requirements for admission, as was conceded by the Canberra government. He had two separate permits for exemption from vaccination, one from the Australian tennis authorities and one from the state of Victoria. His visa was cancelled at the gate after he had landed, without time to reach his lawyer. He was detained in a notorious hostel used to house asylum seekers. The procedure was bizarre.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
