Toowoomba lawyer Dan Creevey blasts court process after Djokovic saga

Toowoomba lawyer asks why can’t we get access to the Supreme Court “in a timely manner” when it takes just 24 hours for a multi-millionaire Serbian tennis player.

RETURN SERVE: Toowoomba lawyer asks why should a Serbian tennis player get access to our courts so timely when we Australians can’t. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The haste in organising the judicial review of the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa highlighted how access to justice in Australia is the domain of the rich and powerful, according to lawyer Dan Creevey.

The Djokovic Covid vaccination saga ended when the full bench of the Federal Court ruled against the Serbian tennis star after his lawyers had managed to have the original decision to cancel the visa overturned in court.

Creevey Russell principal Dan Creevey said it was incredible that a hearing before three federal court judges on a Sunday could be arranged within 24 hours.

“Regardless of where you stand on the Djokovic deportation, what is remarkable was the speed in which this matter was brought before the courts,” he said.

“I believe it highlights how the courts are now the realm of the rich and powerful, and it is time for the judicial arm of government to have a good hard look at itself.

Dan Creevey, principal of Creevey Russell Lawyers, asks why a Serbian tennis player enjoys better access to our courts than we do. Photo Bev Lacey / The Chronicle

“How can Djokovic get a hearing before the full bench of the federal court on a Sunday in Melbourne with 24 hours’ notice when an indigenous woman in the Northern Territory is told that she cannot get a hearing for the return of her children, taken by a violent alcoholic partner, in breach of existing court orders?

“How come we cannot get access to the Supreme Court in a timely manner in regional Queensland?

“In Toowoomba, there are only two judges allocated to the Supreme Court sittings for 2022 and their time will be consumed with criminal matters.

“How come we cannot get a Supreme Court Judge to go to Roma, Charleville and other regional centres to hear an urgent application for an injunction?

“How come, when asking for matters to be set for hearing in the Supreme Court, parties are ordered to mediation, which is just as expensive, on the pretext of not wasting the court’s valuable time when the likes of Clive Palmer can be accommodated?

“The courts are now solely the realm of the rich and powerful. It must change.”

Originally published as Toowoomba lawyer Dan Creevey blasts court process after Djokovic saga