{"id":1225152,"date":"2022-01-19T16:22:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T21:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1225152"},"modified":"2022-01-19T16:22:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T21:22:52","slug":"australian-government-support-crashes-amid-djokovic-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/australian-government-support-crashes-amid-djokovic-fiasco\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Government Support Crashes amid Djokovic Fiasco"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faustralian-government-support-crashes-amid-djokovic-fiasco%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1225152&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The first major national political poll of 2022 revealed a significant drop in support for Australia\u2019s ruling party coalition and a slight lead for the opposition Labor Party on Tuesday, a trend that could doom Prime Minister Scott Morrison\u2019s re-election prospects.<\/p>\n<p>As prime minister, Morrison must call a national election sometime before May. The decline in support for his Liberal-National Coalition (often referred to as just \u201cthe coalition\u201d), Australian observers noted this week, follows the implementation of draconian Chinese coronavirus quarantine and vaccine mandate requirements as well as the international embarrassment surrounding the detention and deportation of the world\u2019s top men\u2019s tennis player, Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Morrison\u2019s government granted Djokovic a visa to attend the Australian Open, a tournament the Serb has won more than any other player in history, but abruptly detained him in Melbourne\u2019s international airport claiming his documentation for a medical exemption to Australia\u2019s vaccine requirement for foreigners was invalid. Djokovic spent the better part of a week in a migrant detention facility before a judge ruled that he could stay. He then practiced for the tournament on Australian Open courts before Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his personal power to deport him the day before the tournament began.<\/p>\n<p>Hawke <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/health\/2022\/01\/14\/lawyers-australia-wants-deport-novak-djokovic-fearing-he-may-excite-anti-vax-sentiment\/\">argued<\/a> in court that Djokovic must leave the country because his alleged opinions were a threat to Australia\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19514346\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/wi\/ap\/16\/australian-tennis-djokovic-serbian-tennis-player-novak-djokovic-rides-car-he-leaves-government.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19514346 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/australian-tennis-djokovic-serbian-tennis-player-novak-djokovic-rides-car-he-leaves-government-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Associated Press\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic rides in car as he leaves a government detention facility before attending a court hearing at his lawyers office in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. (James Ross\/AAP via AP)<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The poll published Monday, by Resolve Political Monitor,&nbsp;depicts the results of questioning that occurred between January 11 and 15, after Djokovic won his case to stay in court but before Hawke used his personal power to deport him.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Australian Associated Press (AAP), the poll <a href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/politics\/support-for-coalition-drops-in-new-poll-c-5350271\">showed<\/a> 35-percent support for the Labor Party, compared to 34 percent for the Morrison coalition.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18238362\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/10\/wi\/ap\/07\/australia-defamation-australia-prime-minister-scott-morrison-speaks-press-conference-canberra.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18238362 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/australia-defamation-australia-prime-minister-scott-morrison-speaks-press-conference-canberra-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Associated Press\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference in Canberra, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. (Lukas Coch\/AAP Image via AP)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe coalition\u2019s vote fell by five points from 39 to 34, while Labor increased its primary vote by three points from 32 to 35 since the last poll, conducted in November,\u201d the AAP observed.<\/p>\n<p>Morrison\u2019s personal support remained above that of Labor leader Anthony Albanese, but his typically comfortable lead against Albanese had also vanished, the poll showed. Morrison now leads Albanese 38 to 31 percent, a seven-point difference, compared to leading 40-29 percent in November.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_19510858\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/wi\/ap\/16\/australian-djokovic-supporters-of-serbia-novak-djokovic-listen-ruling-lawyer-office-of-djoko.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19510858 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/australian-djokovic-supporters-of-serbia-novak-djokovic-listen-ruling-lawyer-office-of-djoko-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Associated Press\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Supporters of Serbia\u2019s Novak Djokovic listen to his ruling outside the lawyer\u2019s office of Djokovic in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. (AP Photo\/Mark Baker)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAccording to the poll, Mr Morrison\u2019s net approval rating is at minus nine, unchanged from the previous poll with 41 per cent saying he was doing a good job as prime minister, while 50 per cent said he was doing a poor job,\u201d AAP relayed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Djokovic scandal occurred on the periphery of mounting Australian dissatisfaction with the Morrison government from both supporters and opponents of heavy-handed government measures to contain the Chinese coronavirus. As the&nbsp;<em>Canberra Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canberratimes.com.au\/story\/7585798\/govt-on-the-back-foot-as-crises-mount\/\">noted<\/a>, the omicron variant has caused a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases in the country, resulting in coronavirus deaths \u201cnow topping hundreds a week, hospitalisations soaring to almost 5,000, nearly 400 people in intensive care, and case numbers impossible to accurately discern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decline in support had begun months ago, however. A poll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world\/articles\/2021-11-14\/support-for-australian-pm-hits-18-month-low-just-months-out-from-election-poll\">published<\/a> in&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Australian<\/em>&nbsp;in November saw Morrison\u2019s approval rating drop to the lowest levels since March 2020, the month that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak erupted as an international concern. At the time, Australians were largely concerned with outsized bushfires consuming much of the country. The November survey, conducted jointly with the firm Newspoll, found support for the parties largely unchanged but support for Morrison personally dropping.<\/p>\n<p>A month later, a poll by Guardian Essential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2021\/dec\/21\/morrisons-approval-dives-over-vaccine-rollout-grants-and-brittany-higgins-fallout-poll-suggests\">found<\/a>&nbsp;only 46 percent of Australians supported Morrison. While two points higher than the 44 percent support he received in the Newspoll survey, the&nbsp;<em>Guardian<\/em> noted its poll found a 19-percent decline in approval of Morrison\u2019s performance as prime minister.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cA year of Guardian Essential data reveals the high-water mark of Morrison\u2019s voter approval was in February, when 65% of survey respondents said they approved of his performance, and 28% said they disapproved,\u201d the British newspaper observed.<\/p>\n<p>Approval polls of Morrison alone document a different form of opinion than the poll released Tuesday, in which respondents were given the option of choosing between Morrison and Albanese. The Guardian Essential poll did ask respondents to compare the two and found Morrison still had an 11-point lead over the Labor leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut Morrison\u2019s standing on the better prime minister metric is now 10 points lower than it was at the start of 2021. Back in February, Morrison led Albanese as \u2018better prime minister\u2019 by 52% to 24%,\u201d the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Djokovic scandal angered Australians on either side of the coronavirus vaccination debate because the government initially issued Djokovic a valid visa \u2013 outraging Australians who noted that citizens had been subjected to extreme lockdown and quarantine policies and banned from entering the country if abroad, but a fabulously wealthy foreigner obtained a visa. On the other side, anti-mandate Australians decried the spectacle of imposing a private medical decision on a foreign or subjecting them to significant career harm. Had Djokovic won the Australian Open this year, it would have been his 21st Grand Slam victory, a record in the history of tennis. It would have also been his tenth Australian Open win.<\/p>\n<p>Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed on Australian television on Monday that the government had granted Djokovic a visa, but refused to blame any particular person for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you know, we get a lot of visas, it\u2019s a computer-generated process,\u201d Frydenberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/health\/2022\/01\/17\/australia-confirms-it-granted-novak-djokovic-a-valid-visa-blames-computer\/\">claimed<\/a>. \u201cIt relies on the applicant putting in what they believe their conditions [are]. He said that he had a legitimate exemption, but that wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite dwindling approval, Morrison\u2019s government has signaled that it will continue antagonizing unvaccinated athletes.&nbsp;Sports Minister Richard Colbeck signaled on Wednesday that the government would similarly deport another athlete, surfing legend Kelly Slater, if he attempted to visit Australia without a coronavirus vaccine series. Slater, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/kelly-slater-has-no-chance-of-getting-in-if-not-vaccinated-sports-minister-20220119-p59pio.html\">insisted<\/a>, had \u201cno chance of getting into the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Frydenberg, meanwhile, addressed the poor poll results this week with tennis analogies, according to the AAP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in the first set of a five-set match, and polls come and go,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642505258913000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0__vJfgnkVvABX5lFlOsWH\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642505258914000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2a4CpGkSU9bSEOSqqxDhjq\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first major national political poll of 2022 revealed a significant drop in support for Australia\u2019s ruling party coalition and a slight lead for the opposition Labor Party on Tuesday, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1225152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1225152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1225152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1225152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1225152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}