[Captain Walker]

You've made some fine points about border security and they're well-taken, but I would point out that if Novak has an official document from one part of Australia that says he's allowed in to play tennis and then someone swoops in from another part of Australia and says that the first document is inadequate, you can't blame that on the visitor, particularly if he's already landed in your country. (He's visiting what he believed to be a friendly country, and until recently, we've all recognized Australia as such.)

He's flying around the world to play in a tennis tournament and he ran into a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors that he neither expected nor wanted.

[naturalman1975]

You've made some fine points about border security and they're well-taken, but I would point out that if Novak has an official document from one part of Australia that says he's allowed in to play tennis and then someone swoops in from another part of Australia and says that the first document is inadequate, you can't blame that on the visitor, particularly if he's already landed in your country. (He's visiting what he believed to be a friendly country, and until recently, we've all recognized Australia as such.)

To a great extent I agree with you - I originally thought Djokovic had been either disingenuous or very careless in accepting the documentation from Tennis Australia (in concert with the Victorian government) as valid, but I now accept he had genuine reason for making that assumption.

But I would like to point out, it's not quite as you describe - this is not a matter of someone from a different part of Australia swooping in. This is a matter of the Commonwealth government of Australia which clearly and unambiguously has constitutional authority over entry to Australia, stepping in over a state government (that of Victoria) that has no constitutional authority whatsoever in this area.

It is extremely problematic constitutionally speaking that a Judge has allowed a decision by a state government to determine who can enter Australia, over the objections of the Commonwealth government and that is basically what has happened here. Djokovic isn't any threat to Australia - but the Victorian government has a history of cozying up to China, and of being soft on illegal immigration (they can afford to be - hardly any illegal immigrants try to enter via Victoria). If they can now issue permission for entry, we have real security issues.