Topic | Anne Ruston | Brisbane Times brisbanetimes.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from brisbanetimes.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Australian Tennis Open proceeds despite growing COVID-19 infections
The staging of this year’s Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne in the midst of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has become a naked demonstration of the subordination of public health and every other aspect of life, including sport, to the profit-driven dictates of the wealthy corporate elite.
“Profits before lives” is literally the theme under which the global season-opening event is taking place. The Victorian state Labor Party government is helping more than 1,200 international tennis players, their support staff and broadcasters fly into the country on special charter flights for next month’s slightly delayed competition, and is allowing them to forgo normal quarantine requirements. This is despite growing numbers of the participants testing positive to COVID-19, which may include the more infectious variants that first came to light in Britain.