- Joe Rogan slams Australia's Covid response
- Says people put in 'concentration camps'
- READ MORE: Joe Rogan learns major difference between US and Australia from Russell Crowe
US podcaster Joe Rogan has told his massive audience that he would not move to Australia because the country put people in 'concentration camps' for 'a cold' during the Covid lockdowns.
He also said that kind of repression was only possible because Australia prevented its people having guns.
The remarks came during Rogan's conversation with retired Mixed Martial Arts fighter Royce Gracie as they discussed a perceived reduction in personal freedom in the US amid rising crime.
'I keep telling people if America falls I think the whole world will fall, the rest of the world will fall,' Gracie said.
'Yeah, maybe that's the plan,' responded Rogan, who has over 14.5million followers for his podcasts on Spotify.
'There's no place that has this kind of freedom,' he added as Royce continued to ask 'where would you go'?
Eventually Rogan said he once considered Australia was a viable alternative to the US but his mind had since changed.
US podcaster Joe Rogan has told his massive audience that he wouldn't move to Australia after seeing what happened during the Covid pandemic
Joe Rogan is pictured with Donald Trump
'I used to think Australia but then I saw how they handled the pandemic I was like '"oh f**, that well that's what happens when no one has guns",' he said.
'Yep the army just rolls in and tells you what to do and puts you in concentration camps because you have a cold, like it's crazy.'
During the Covid pandemic Australia quarantined people arriving in the country for weeks before they were able to enter the community.
Most were put in hotels but some were also housed in temporary isolation camps.
Australia's specialised national quarantine facility, Howard Springs on the outskirts of Darwin, hosted around 64,000 people for a mandatory two-week isolation period.
The Howard Springs quarantine centre on the outskirts of Darwin, hosted around 64,000 people during the Covid period
Opponents of the quarantine arrangement described the Howard Springs centre as a 'concentration camp'.
These quarantined at Howard Springs were charged for the cost of accommodation, food, medical support, policing and security.
They were charged $2,500 per person, or $5,000 for a family of two or more people, for the 14 days.
Even members of Australia's Olympic team returning from the Tokyo Olympics did 14 day stays at the facility.
Australia gained worldwide headlines during the pandemic period for deporting Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic for not taking the Covid vaccines.
Djokovic was forced to leave Australia just days before he was scheduled to walk on court as the defending Australian Open champion in January 2022 because he entered the country unvaccinated during pandemic border restrictions.
In an interview with US TV network CBS in December Djokovic revealed the experience still scarred him.
'I was basically declared as a villain of the world,' he said.
Djokovic admitted that although he has often not been a crowd favourite, what happened to him in Australia was a different level of antagonism.
'I had that kind of experience on the tennis court with, with crowds that were not maybe cheering me on, but I never had this particular experience before in my life,' he said.
Djokovic was asked by interviewer Jon Wertheim if he 'misread' the mood of the Australian public who 'felt very strongly about vaccination' and did not like the perceived Serbian star's 'exceptionalism'.
'It was not up to me to read an anybody,' Djokovic stated.
'I got the permission to come into the country and, and so of course, it escalated to the highest of the highest levels globally.'
Melbourne, where the Australian Open is staged, was locked down for a record 262 non-consecutive days during the pandemic.
The measures at time included a curfew and orders for residents not to breach a 5km radius from their place of residence.
Australians lost many of their rights to own high caliber weapons after a shooting massacre in 1996 left 35 dead at the tourist destination of Port Arthur in Tasmania.
It was the world's biggest mass shooting at the time and saw legislation enacted to remove semi-automatic weapons and crack down on gun ownership generally.
Laws have tightened in the years since and in NSW, the most populous Australian state, those wanting a gun must supply ‘genuine reason for owning a firearm‘.
