Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has used his personal power to cancel Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa ahead of the 2022 Australian Open campaign, as his lawyers prepare to file for an immediate injunction against the decision. Djokovic who was named in the Australian Open draw on Thursday and was paired against fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic for the match on Monday next week is the subject of controversy after his visa was cancelled for a second time.
HOW IT STARTED He landed in Melbourne last Wednesday afternoon with a medical exemption from the Victoria state government. But he was detained on Thursday morning at a hotel after his visa was cancelled following scrutiny of the medical exemption he had secured. On Monday, his visa cancellation was overturned by Judge Anthony Kelly in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia ruling the tennis star had not been given enough time to speak to his lawyers before the decision was made, and he was released immediately from five-day of immigration detention spent in Melbourne hotel.
HOW IT IS GOING Since being freed from detention on Monday, Djokovic has been training every day. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has used rare personal powers to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa in the interest of “public health and good order”, just days after the tennis star won his court bid to stay in the country to compete for his 10th Australian Open title. Melbourne-based immigration lawyer Kian Bone said Djokovic’s lawyers face an “extremely difficult” task to get court orders over the weekend to allow him to play next week. If he doesn’t challenge the decision in the courts or is unsuccessful in doing so, he will be immediately deported from the country.
THE MINISTER STATEMENT Mr Hawke late on Friday afternoon said: “Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so. This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds. In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic. The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
HIGHLIGHTING ARBITRARY BORDER POLICIES The decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa shows how political the decisions about borders and migration are in Australia, Australian Law Alliance’s Greg Barns, SC, says. “The broad discretion given to the Minister means that political considerations drive decisions that can seriously impact people’s lives,” the barrister said. “It is astonishing that we have allowed one person to have this level of unchecked control and extraordinary power.”
EXPERTS OPINION Barns said the powers given to the minister and border officials have increased over time, but with no corresponding improvement in transparency or accountability: “In many cases, there are no rights to appeal the minister’s decision or any meaningful scrutiny of these decisions, most people don’t have the resources that Djokovic has to engage legal teams to defend them.” Barns also said the capricious approach taken to decisions on the visas of tennis players this week reflected the treatment many vulnerable people receive when they arrived in Australia.
Source: AIPS