When Novak Djokovic, the world’s top ranked men’s tennis player, flew out of Melbourne late on Sunday evening, his public humiliation was complete. It was excruciating to witness the Australian “pile-on” against one man who had won 20 men’s singles grand slam championships, nine of them at the Australian Open. He’d sought to become the greatest of all time in Melbourne by winning a 21st grand slam. The attack by Australian media, politicians and public was relentless and hostile. On Channel 7, newsreaders were caught vilifying Djokovic as “a lying sneaky ****hole” who “fell over his own lies”. As a clinical psychologist, I was concerned for Djokovic’s well-being. Djokovic entered Australia reasonably believing he had a valid visa approved by the federal government and a medical exemption from being Covid-19 vaccinated because he’d contracted the virus within the past six months. Novak’s exemption was independently assessed by two medical expert panels. Djokovic’s visa revocation and detention set up a “David and Goliath” legal stoush between him and the federal government. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “no one is above the rules” when it comes to Australia’s immigration policy. However, it seems “rules are rules” in Australian federal politics, until they’re no longer self-serving. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are lawfully able to mingle without being Covid-19 vaccinated. They’re simply encouraged to wear a mask and get vaccinated, because to upset this constituency of voters is unthinkable. Federal politicians such as Craig Kelly, Alex Antic, Gerard Rennick and George Christensen, among others, have publicly promoted vaccine hesitancy and untruths about Covid-19. However, the Morrison government has defended their right to do so under the sanctity of freedom of speech. Djokovic has united many Australians on his deportation, whereas the existential threat of climate change could not. This indicates Australians’ understanding of what is a threat. If Djokovic decides not to be Covid-19 vaccinated and he is not allowed to return to Australia for three years under the Migration Act, his detention and deportation may be Australians’ last memories of a man who has done much for world tennis. If that’s how Australia treats the world’s best, there’s significant concern for the rest. I support approved Covid-19 vaccination, including booster vaccination, but I’m sorry that Novak was treated so poorly in Australia. Michael Walton, New South Wales, Australia Australia has its priorities all wrong Thousands of people in Australia are sick with Covid-19, there are food shortages , a shortage of antigen tests, hospitals are overworked and people are dying . You would think that the government would be focusing on this matter instead of trying to push through legislation that makes it legal for companies to sack gay people or someone who has a different religious viewpoint. This is Australia today. Doug Cliff, New South Wales, Australia Cancelling Lunar New Year fairs defies logic The decision to cancel the Lunar New Year fairs goes against all common sense. If the need to reduce public gatherings is behind the cancellation, what is the difference between shopping at an outdoor flower market and shopping at an indoor mall? Indeed, the only difference is that air ventilation is worse in the mall. Why are people expected to use the Leave Home Safe app when entering wet markets but not shopping malls? While, on the face of it, cancelling the New Year markets seems necessary to “reduce public gatherings”, Hongkongers who mostly live in small flats will still go out and do their Lunar New Year shopping. They will go to shopping centres where they will buy flowers at marked-up prices or throng smaller flower shops in wet markets or the Mong Kok flower market. The policy simply seems to redirect gatherings to other places. Once again, the government has chosen to do what appears to be right instead of what actually makes sense. Once again, small businesses are paying the price , while taxpayers are made to foot the bill for officials sweeping discontent under the carpet. Agnes Lee, Yuen Long More than travel sacrificed in quarantine measures In reducing quarantine for close contacts at Penny’s Bay to only 14 days but continuing the requirement that all entries from abroad do a 21-day stay, the government is displaying the same questionable logic as in banning dine-in services at restaurants after 6pm. Confucius wrote, “If you govern with the power of your virtue, you will be like the North Star. It just stays in its place while all the other stars position themselves around it”. Governing by confusion, meanwhile, is creating a meteor shower of panic. Your correspondent in “We’re a Covid-fearing city, live with it” ( January 14 ) misses the point entirely about what is wrong with the government’s draconian and unjustified quarantine imposition. He states it is “all good as long as you don’t need to travel frequently”. Travel is but one element that Hong Kong has sacrificed, along with jobs, families, financial stability, mental health, and the city’s status as a centre for international trade and commerce. The cost is far more than a supposed desire to travel; it is a loss of a right to live sans the open prison Hong Kong has effectively become. The world is learning to live with Covid because that is the only viable course to allow people to sustain their lives. Hong Kong must accept this so we can return to the world of normalcy. Mark Peaker, The Peak