Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said on Friday he used his ministerial discretion to revoke the 34-year-old Serb’s visa three days before the start of the Australian Open on grounds of public interest.
Djokovic’s lawyers are expected to appeal the cancellation in Federal circuit and Family court, as they successfully did after the first cancellation.
Hawke said he cancelled the visa for “reasons of health and good order grounds” that it was in the public interest.
“The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hawke said in a statement referring to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
It is the second time Djokovic’s visa has been canceled since he arrived in Melbourne last week to defend his Australian Open title.
His waiver of the COVID19 vaccination requirement for the competition has been approved by the Victorian State Government and Tennis Australia, the tournament organiser. That apparently allowed him to receive a travel visa.
But the Australian Border Force refused the waiver and canceled his visa on arrival in Melbourne. Djokovic spent four nights in a hotel for immigration detention hotel before a judge overturned that decision on Monday.
Melbourne-based immigration lawyer Kian Bone said Djokovic’s lawyers face an “extremely difficult” task to get court orders over the weekend to allow their client to play next week.
“It would be extremely difficult for Djokovic to get the results he needs to play over the weekend,” Bone said.
Hawke’s delay in making a decision bordered on punitive, Bone said.
From his perspective, he’s really crippling (Hawke) Djokovic’s legal team in terms of the kind of options or remedies he might get,” Bone said hours before the decision was announced.
The lawyers would have to appear before a duty Federal Circuit and Family Court or a senior judge of the Federal Court of Justice to obtain two summary orders.
An order would be an injunction preventing his deportation, preventing your deportation, like the order you received last week. The second would order Hawke to grant Djokovic a visa to play. “This second order is almost unprecedented,” said Bone. “Very rarely do the courts do this. to grant a visa to a member of the executive branch. Jacqui Lambie, an influential independent senator, argued that Djokovic should be sent away if he had breached Australia’s vaccination requirements.
But hours before the visa suspension was announced, he complained about how long it took Hawke to make a decision.
“Why is this still dripping out of the faucet? Alex Hawke, where are you? Missing in action?” Lambie asked on Nine Network TV.
“If they can’t make a decision about Novak Djokovic my god how are they running the country? It’s an absolute disaster,” he added.
