Double fault

How is it that international tennis players and their entourage are allowed to land in Melbourne? Yet, thousands of Victorians who are stranded in the COVID "red zones" of Sydney and Brisbane are being prevented from returning home?

In ensuring that the Australian Open tennis tournament goes ahead, the Victorian government has agreed to allow international tennis players and their support teams to fly into Victoria. On arrival, they will be required to complete the mandatory fourteen days of quarantine. Victorians stuck on the COVID "red zones" of Sydney and Brisbane, have no option to return, even if they do quarantine.

Having the Australian Open is big business, and the government wants the tournament to go ahead so that Melbourne and Victoria's international reputation is not impacted. Notwithstanding the government's efforts to keep COVID at bay, this is not a proportionate response. Every day international airlines are bringing in people with COVID from overseas hot spots. You wouldn't have thought there would be a problem with domestic travel from locations where the cases are low.

For the government to prioritise bringing tennis players to Australia rather than bringing home Victorians who are stuck interstate, it's worse than a double fault. It's a double standard.
 
How would you respond to the argument that they are doing their duty in keeping everyone sane by sustaining the supply of bread and circuses during this tough time?

They could argue that it's impossible to scale the same lenient treatment -- like they do these tennis players -- to everyone but it is possible to scale entertainment that such people provide. 
2021-01-15 15:37:36
I love how a well reasoned gripe by one can turn into entertainment for the non-affected. Your value here is confirmed my good sir.
2021-01-15 18:15:05
abrahamKim
regarding circuses, as
peterdannock
notes: 'Having the Australian Open is big business'. There are multiple dimensions of ethics to this issue that should be under consideration. There is the one
peterdannock
raises, but also the issue of fueling an economy. If the Open truly brings in a lot of money from outside, that will have cascading effects within the local economy that should benefit everyone in theory. Balancing COVID risk vs. economic opportunity has been a struggle and I don't believe that there is a perfect way to deal with it, but I can empathize with the rationale of permitting the Open to take place when considered through the lens of economic health. Does that make it fair to the Victorians who are stranded in 'red zones', no. I don't envy being the position of having to choose where to make concessions and where not to, there will always invariably be those who, by no fault of their own, will get the short straw. 
2021-01-15 20:47:35

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