The Australian Immigration Bureau detained Novak Djokovic in Melbourne on Saturday at 8 am. He met them after his second visa was revoked since he arrived on January 6th.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his discretionary ministerial authority late Friday afternoon to cancel a tennis star’s visa for health and order.
“I exercised the authority to revoke the visa that Novak Djokovic held for health and order reasons, because it was held for the public good under Section 133C (3) of the Immigration Law. “I did,” Hawk said. In the statement January 14th.
The decision was announced around 6 pm on Friday. This is a common tactic by national politicians who want to fill the story over the weekend.
At an urgent hearing at the Federal Circuit on Friday night, Djokovic’s lawyer sought an injunction against his deportation until another hearing on Sunday.
As part of Judge Anthony Kelly’s court order, Djokovic will be required to attend a meeting with immigration authorities on Saturday, where he will be detained.
Judge Kelly was the judge who reinstated the tennis star’s visa last week and considered the cancellation to be “irrational” because the player had not been given enough time to respond to officials. rice field.
Djokovic escaped detention on Friday night, but will be detained at the same immigrant hotel where he was last week.
His team is considering why to challenge visa cancellation in a formal application filed on Saturday.
Djokovic has not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and has applied for a medical exemption to enter Australia to compete in the Australian Open Tennis Tournament.
He argued that he should be granted a tax exemption because he tested positive in December.
The visa is due to the fact that the world’s number one tennis player was detained by the Australian Border Force on arrival on January 6 and did not meet Australia’s entry requirements that foreign arrivals must be fully vaccinated. was canceled.
Australia’s overseas border entry requirements without quarantine currently require visa holders to be double vaccinated or to provide acceptable evidence that they cannot be vaccinated.
The Australian Open will begin on Monday when it was scheduled to face Serbian compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Djokovic’s visa revocation was done for the public good.
“Australian people have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they naturally expect the consequences of those sacrifices to be protected,” he said in a statement on Friday. “that is [immigration] The minister is taking this action today.
“Our strong border security policy kept Australians safe before the COVID and during the current pandemic.”
Officials investigated potential contradictions in Djokovic’s declaration, stating that he had not left the country for two weeks before Djokovic flew to Australia.
The revelation that Djokovic was positive for COVID-19 in December also forced him to make a public statement apologizing for not quarantining after obtaining his results.
In a statement posted on social media, Serbian players also admitted that they participated in a media interview in Belgrade when they learned that they were infected with COVID-19.
“This was a misjudgment. I admit that I should have reschedule this commitment,” Djokovic said. “I didn’t want to disappoint the journalist, so I felt obliged to go ahead and do a Requip interview, but except when I was taking pictures, I was socially distant and wore a mask. . “
He said he felt and believed that he was obliged to interview because he was asymptomatic and was practicing social distance that it was okay.
Djokovic was filmed playing tennis in Serbia on Christmas day and then seen training in Spain on December 31st in a two-week window.
However, Djokovic denied that he was trying to mislead the government in the form, stating that the agent made a “administrative mistake” while filling out the form.
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Caden Pearson is an Australian-based reporter with a background in screenwriting and documentary. Contact him at [email protected]