Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation once more after the Australian authorities revoked his visa for a second time.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke mentioned Friday he used his ministerial discretion to revoke the 34-year-old Serb’s visa on public curiosity grounds three days earlier than the Australian Open is to start.
Djokovic’s attorneys are anticipated to enchantment the cancellation within the Federal Circuit and Household Courtroom as they efficiently did after the primary cancellation.
Hawke mentioned he cancelled the visa on “well being and good order grounds, on the premise that it was within the public curiosity to take action.”
“The Morrison Authorities is firmly dedicated to defending Australia’s borders, significantly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hawke mentioned in an announcement, referring to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
It’s the second time Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled since he arrived in Melbourne final week to defend his Australian Open title.
His exemption from a COVID-19 vaccination requirement to compete was accepted by the Victoria state authorities and Tennis Australia, the event organizer. That apparently allowed him to obtain a visa to journey.
Novak Djokovic says human error is guilty for an inaccurate journey declaration type that claimed the tennis champion hadn’t travelled for 2 weeks earlier than arriving in Australia for an upcoming event in Melbourne. 1:52
However the Australian Border Drive rejected the exemption and cancelled his visa upon arrival in Melbourne. Djokovic spent 4 nights in an immigration detention lodge earlier than a decide on Monday overturned that call.
Djokovic’s authorized staff hamstrung, says lawyer
Melbourne-based immigration lawyer Kian Bone mentioned Djokovic’s attorneys confronted an “extraordinarily troublesome” activity to get courtroom orders over the weekend to permit their shopper to play subsequent week.
“For Djokovic to get the outcomes he must play can be extraordinarily troublesome to acquire over the weekend,” Bone mentioned.
Hawke’s delay in reaching a choice bordered on punitive, Bone mentioned.
“If you happen to left it any later than he has achieved now, I feel from a strategic standpoint he is (Hawke’s) actually hamstringing Djokovic’s authorized staff, when it comes to what kind of choices or treatments he may acquire,” Bone mentioned hours earlier than the choice was introduced.
The attorneys would wish to go earlier than an obligation decide of the Federal Circuit and Household Courtroom or a better decide of the Federal Courtroom to get two pressing orders.
One order can be an injunction stopping his deportation, just like the order he gained final week. The second would order Hawke to grant Djokovic a visa to play.
That second order is nearly not precedented,” Bone mentioned. “Very hardly ever do the courts order a member of the manager authorities to grant a visa.”
