Name? Scott Morrison
Westphalian identity? Australian
Age? 53
Why is he in the news? After a week of conflict with Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, Morrison came out on top as a court upheld his government’s decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa–a mere few hours before the Australian Open began. The court’s decision, though it did not immediately provide reasoning for it, showed that it doesn’t matter if you’re No.1 in the world, the rules apply to you! “It’s as simple as that!”
Why do we care? Only in the third year of this ongoing pandemic would one individual’s vaccination status become the centre point of international affairs for a week…so aside from simply being amused by this whole scenario, what better proof that individuals matter in IR than Djokovic? This marked the end to the Djokovic-Morrison Saga and we must say, domestically it seems like Morrison is gaining ground as a strong leader. Internationally, however, this saga is rather smiled upon.
Why should you care? In short, you don’t. You just care that we are finally done writing about this after tackling both sides last week. You should care for a maximum of 1/10 about Morrison deporting Djokovic after a 14-day long match.
Who else cares? Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić blamed Morrison’s government for an “Orwellian” treatment of Djokovic. In addition to welcoming home Serbia’s national hero, Vučić asserted that Morrison’s government “think that they humiliated Djokovic with this 10-day harassment, and they actually humiliated themselves.”
Any further comments? As we mentioned, you (and us) are glad this is officially over and we can focus on matters with real-life and large-scale implications like underwater volcano eruptions that could wipe out entire islands! Morrison is also ready to move on (and better his image after this fiasco) as Australia has already sent surveillance flights to determine damage to critical infrastructures across Tonga after the earthquake and the following tsunami.
