Border farce: court to rule on Novak Djokovic visa

Novak Djokovic is in immigration detention in Melbourne after launching a legal challenge to border control rules and his deportation for breaching Covid-19 vaccination orders.

Novak Djokovic at Melbourne airport on Thursday after handing over his passport … only to be denied entry to Australia. Picture: 9NEWS

The world’s No. 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has spent a second night in immigration detention in Melbourne after launching a legal challenge to Australia’s border control rules and his immediate deportation for breaching Covid vaccination orders.

Lawyers for the champion Serb went to the Federal Circuit and Family Court late on Thursday to overturn the cancellation of his visa, a shock move on his arrival for the Australian Open that fired diplomatic tensions with the Serbian government.

Scott Morrison declared “rules are rules” and defended the Australian Border Force for rejecting a medical exemption to the vaccination requirement that had been endorsed by the Victorian government, allowing Djokovic to initially be issued an automatically generated visa to enter the country.

The Prime Minister insisted the ABF officers still had the right to turn him away when he landed in Melbourne. “There are many visas granted, and if you have a visa and you’re double vaccinated, well, you’re very welcome to come,” Mr Morrison said. “But … if you’re not double vaccinated and you’re not an Australian citizen, well, you can’t come.”

In an after-hours hearing, judge Anthony Kelly granted Djokovic a three-day reprieve from deportation, adjourning his application for a judicial review of the visa cancellation to Monday, a week from when the Open starts.

Christopher Tran, for Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, did not oppose an interim injunction to stop the Serb being marched to the airport.

With recriminations flying between Canberra and Daniel Andrews’ state Labor government, a letter from federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley showed the tennis chief has been warned on two separate occasions in November there were no grounds to exempt anyone for the reasons Djokovic is believed to have cited.

This involved catching the virus within six months of arrival in Australia. But on November 29, Mr Hunt told Mr Tiley: “In relation to your specific questions, I can confirm that people who contracted Covid-19 within the past six months and seek to enter Australia from overseas, and have not received two doses of a Therapeutic Goods Administration-¬approved or TGA-recognised vaccine (or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine) are not considered fully vaccinated.”

Djokovic, 34, who has repeatedly refused to say whether he is vaccinated, was being held in a quarantine hotel pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. His barrister, Nick Wood, earlier told Judge Kelly that the Open was urgently seeking clarification of the immigration status of its top seed so the draw could be rejigged if necessary.

“I am advised Tennis Australia has indicated they would need to have a definitive position on Djokovic’s participation in the tournament on Tuesday for rescheduling purposes. One can appreciate if Djokovic is not playing, another player will need to be playing,” Mr Wood said, earning a rebuke from the bench.

“The tail will not be wagging the dog here,” said Judge Kelly, who restrained Border Force from deporting Djokovic before 4pm on Monday. The court heard that among the grounds to be cited in Djokovic’s application for judicial review was unfairness or unreasonableness.

Weighing into the row, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Australia of “harassing” Djokovic. “I told our Novak that the whole of Serbia is with him and that our bodies are doing everything to see that the harassment of the world’s best tennis player is brought to an end immediately,” Mr Vucic said after reaching Djokovic by phone on Thursday.

His ejection from Australia would be a huge blow to the tournament, taking out two of “big three” drawcards of world tennis after the withdrawal of Roger Federer, who is tied with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on 20 grand slam victories apiece. As defending champ, Djokovic was to vie for an unrivalled 10th Australian Open title.

The status of other exemptions to the vaccine mandate granted by Tennis Australia in tandem with the Victorian government is also in doubt. Mr Tiley said on Wednesday a “handful” of waivers had been issued, and it is believed these involve at least one other international player. Unlike Djokovic, they evidently weren’t stopped at the airport.

Nadal offered him no sympathy. “If you don’t want to get the vaccine, you’re going to have some troubles,” the Spaniard said. “After a lot of people have been dying for two years my feeling is with the vaccine, (it’s) the only way to stop this pandemic. The world, in my opinion, has been suffering enough to not follow the rules.”

Emotions ran high outside the Carlton hotel where Djokovic was being detained, with police called in to keep the peace as angry Serbian community protesters rallied in support of their idol. “It’s racist,” one member of the crowd shouted.

Mr Morrison said he was aware of the Serbian government’s concern, but emphasised the vaccination rules applied to anyone seeking entry to Australia. “There is no suggestion of any particular position in relation to Serbia,” he said. “In fact … this is a very specific case that deals with one individual, Australia’s sovereign border laws and their fair application.”

If Djokovic caught Covid-19 in the second half of last year, it would have been his second bout with the virus after his acknowledged infection in 2020 during an ill-fated tour of Serbia and Croatia conducted with minimal pandemic precautions.

Mr Morrison said the Serb had been unable to furnish proof of an exemption when challenged by Australian Border Force officials at Melbourne airport. While denying he had been “singled out”, the Prime Minister indicated Djokovic could be to blame for drawing “significant attention” to himself ahead of his arrival in Australia – an apparent reference to a tweet he issued before boarding the plane that he had been exempted to play at the Open.

Acting Victorian Sports Minister Jaala Pulford said federal officials contacted a number of Victorian government agencies overnight on Wednesday after Djokovic landed at 11.30pm, advising that he had applied to enter the country under the “wrong visa” and asking whether the state would support an individual visa application. “We said that we would not,” she told ABC radio. Ms Andrews said the ABF did not request Victoria support a visa.

Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale, Angelica Snowden