Posted on 01/13/2022 11:24:34 PM PST by naturalman1975
The Federal Government has decided to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa because it was “in the public interest to do so”, casting serious doubt over whether the 20-time grand slam champion will compete in the Australian Open.
Last week’s decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa was overturned in the Federal Circuit Court on Monday, but Federal Immigration Minister Alex Hawke still had the final say on whether the world No. 1 is allowed to stay in the country.
Hawke was tasked with choosing whether the 34-year-old was a risk to the health and safety of the Australia community, but “lengthy further submissions” from Djokovic’s legal team delayed a decision.
And Hawke finally came to a decision on Friday afternoon, invoking his discretionary power and immediately seeking to deport the tennis star.
“Today I exercised my power under section 133C (3) of the Migration Actto 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,” Hawke said in a statement.
“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. I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments.”
Djokovic’s lawyers are expected to seek an immediate injunction which would allow him to stay and play his first round of the Australian Open pending an expedited trial next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Unless Novak Djokovic beats them in court again, I think that this will mark the end of the Australian open as a grand slam tennis championship. The ATP will in future have to designate some other event as the 4th major championship.
I am guessing that without the May national elections impending this would not have happened.
....and have a nice day....
It is a cowardly decision just after close of business on a Friday. From the government of a conservative devout Christian PM who has talked about not locking down but living with Covid. The Aussie Open is closed.
And the election campaign really has little relevance here.
Since 2001, it has been the fundamental stated principle of Australia's border laws that we decide who comes here and on what terms. This is not new, and it's something American conservatives used to praise Australia for. Now, for some reason, they've turned their back on that core principle.
Djokovic has tried to enter Australia without complying with our border regulations. He lied on his entry application. Honestly, while I wish they could find some way to let him play, it is difficult to see on what grounds the Immigration Minister could have made a different decision.
COVID is just an added complicating feature.
Not cowardly.
It’s bravely authoritarian.
Like the whole covid response has been, and will continue
unabated this year.
Australia needs him more than he needs Australia. When you refuse to let the world’s #1 tennis player compete in your tournament then by definition your tournament isn’t a championship tournament. He certainly doesn’t need the money and the Australian Open will lose it’s prestige after this political stunt. He flew down there with the understanding that his pre-arranged visa would be honored. The Australians did not act in good faith so screw ‘em.
No, you don't.
You're as gleeful as those execrable Lefty Twitter bluechecks when they get a "win" for their side, and so are a lot of your countrysubjects.
May the boot on your neck be light. But I doubt that it will be.
Should put to rest the dozens of people on this forum who continue to post false information on this topic.
The guy was NEVER going to get in the country to play.
Australia is such a joke.. Everyone knows they are just being assholes, do they think they are fooling anyone?
“And the election campaign really has little relevance here.”
In the immortal words of tennis great John McEnroe, “You can’t be serious!”.
If it was such an obvious decision, why wait until after the tournament draw is set, and after the close of business on Friday? And why give the reason as “on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so”. It almost seems to me that Hawke is expecting Judge Kelly to overrule him, but for political reasons he did it anyway.
I can’t honestly claim that we have better politicians here in the USA, but this is the folly that is currently in the news.
Pray that Judge Kelly takes swift action to rescue the true interests of Australia from Hawke’s folly.
Yeah. Nah. Americans seem to have this warped idea that the Australian Open is really really important to Australia but it isn't. Yeah, it a big sporting event, and it has some tourist value, but it's of miniscule importance compared to thinks like our border security.
He flew down there with the understanding that his pre-arranged visa would be honored.
Not really. He either misunderstood the entry requirements (and to be fair, it looks like Tennis Australia may have given him misleading information) or he deliberately tried to bluff his way past Australian border law. Whichever is true, he only ever had a conditional Visa and it was conditional on him provided a valid exemption on arrival. He didn't have a valid exemption.
The Australians did not act in good faith so screw ‘em.
He also lied on his entry form. So arguing that the Australian government didn't act in good faith, but simply following Australian law as written seems odd to me.
Lol.. Are you honestly saying without mass formation or covid that he would not be playing in any country he wanted to?
That is probably true, but
it’s nice to see shameless authoritarians, play out their fantasy world in the open: the AO.
Yes, I can be. Electorally speaking, this is unlikely to make that much difference. Yes, kicking Djokovic out will be popular with a fair number of people, but it's unlikely to affect the vote that much. That's not what people vote on. And the shambolic nature of all of this has probably done more harm than good.
If it was such an obvious decision, why wait until after the tournament draw is set, and after the close of business on Friday?
Yeah, that does annoy me - this should have been done by Wednesday at the latest to give Djokovic the best possible chance of appealing the decision. But - frankly, the court system here in Victoria is now so corrupt and flawed, I suspect the federal government just doesn't trust it to rule on the basis of the law anymore, and that may have figured in their decision.
It will be interesting to see if any Federal court judge is willing to hold an expedited hearing, and if they do, how they rule. Judge Kelly might be.
Your full-time job is protecting fascists in Australia isn’t it?
No. But if you want to engage in hypotheticals about a different world than the one we actually live in, you can come up with any scenario you like.
This is a world that has COVID in it.
No.
If anything, I’m defending Australia’s border security. Not fascists or fascism.
And it’s not a job. I’m on my summer/Christmas holidays right now.
Well, apparently the word is full of fools who don’t understand Australia at all but think they do.
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