OPEN THREAT IN LAST-DITCH BID
TENNIS superstar Novak Djokovic was again locked up in an immigration detention hotel on Saturday night as his lawyers prepared to launch a last-ditch bid to keep him in the country.
The world’s No.1 men’s player is in a race against time to appeal against the federal government’s decision to cancel his visa. The Australian Open begins on Monday morning.
In new documents lodged in the Federal Court on Saturday, Djokovic’s lawyers claim a second attempt to deport him could “jeopardise the viability” of Australia retaining the grand slam in the future.
Djokovic arrived back at the Park Hotel in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon before his court hearing at 8am (NT time) on Sunday.
More documents released by the Federal Court on Saturday reveal the grounds on which Immigration Minister Alex Hawke revoked Djokovic’s visa a day earlier. Reasons given include fears the star’s previous stance on vaccines could negatively influence the country’s public health and “foster anti-vaccination sentiment”.
Mr Hawke also argued that by remaining in Australia, the sportsman could increase the risks of “civil unrest”, and said that he had taken into account Djokovic’s decision in December to attend a media event after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
“His behaviour may encourage or influence others to emulate his prior conduct and fail to comply with appropriate health measures following a positive Covid-19 test, which itself could lead to the transmission of the disease and serious risk to their health and others,” Mr Hawke argued.
But the minister sensationally dumped arguments used in the government’s first bid to quash Djokovic’s visa, saying he accepted it was unlikely the tennis player was a risk of personally spreading coronavirus, and that he assumed he had a medical reason for being unvaccinated.
Lawyers for Djokovic, who has won nine championships at Melbourne Park and is desperate to defend his 2021 Australian Open title, hit back at the fresh arguments that their client was a “talisman” for the anti-vaccination movement.
They say the government was relying on a “few lines of text he said about two years ago” and that Djokovic’s more recent statements included, “I am not against vaccination of any kind”.
“The material upon which the respondent (minister) relied was confined to a reference to a media article which refers to a selective extract of comments attributed to Mr Djokovic in April 2020, being almost two years ago and ‘well before Covid vaccines were available’,” court documents state.
The star’s lawyers also argue the minister could not know if Djokovic had stirred anti-vaccination sentiment in Australia because of the attention the government’s bungled initial efforts to cancel his visa had drawn to the case.
They say there was no evidence presented to support the claims used to quash the Serb’s visa.
Court submissions also show that amid suggestions his Covid diagnosis was faked in December, Djokovic formally requested a testimonial from his doctors in Serbia about their veracity. A sworn statement from the acting director of the Institute of Public Health Serbia, Associate Professor Verica Jovanovic, confirmed his test results were legitimate.
Djokovic’s hearing will be heard before a full bench of the Federal Court. The Serb star’s lawyers successfully argued it should be heard by three judges, cutting the need for a further appeal.
Lawyers for the government had argued for a single judge because reasons used by Mr Hawke were “not novel”. A decision by a single judge would have raised the prospect of a second court hearing if any decision was appealed again, which would have struggled to be heard before the start of the Open.
Other tennis superstars in Melbourne for the Open expressed frustration at the case on Saturday, saying it had dragged on too long and taken the focus off the sport.
Rafael Nadal, who is tied with Djokovic and Roger Federer on 20 grand slam wins, said he was “a little bit tired” of the situation.
“It’s very clear that Novak Djokovic is one of the best players of the history. But there is no one player in history that’s more important than an event,” he said.
The saga has also attracted international attention, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accusing Australia of “mistreating” his country’s star player.
“There is no one player in history that’s more important than an event”
RAFAEL NADAL