The tennis star has lost an appeal against Australia’s Immigration Minister for his visa being annulled. The dream of his tenth win at the Australian Open is over for now. For the Australians, the political process of coming to terms with the situation is now beginning.
Novak Djokovic has lost his fight to enter the Australian Open. He has to leave Australia.
Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic has to leave Australia. Actually, he should have played against his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday evening in the Rod Laver Arena. But that’s over now.
Melbourne Federal Court judges – James Allsop, Anthony Besanko and David O’Callaghan – have upheld the Australian Immigration Minister’s decision to annul Djokovic’s visa. Djokovic’s appeal was rejected. Around 90,000 viewers followed the live stream of the trial – more than the number of tennis fans at the Australian Open games.
Djokovic had to wait for the decision in his lawyers’ office. It is not yet clear whether he will have to return to the deportation hotel in Melbourne before his deportation. As a rule, persons with an invalid visa are accommodated in guarded accommodation by the border authorities until they leave the country. It is also unclear whether Djokovic will not be allowed to enter Australia for the next three years. A deportation is usually associated with this condition.
The negotiations on Sunday were essentially about the same points as the day before. The government side reiterated that the Australian Minister for Immigration has discretionary powers to cancel a visa if a person’s entry could endanger health or public order in Australia. Or if it is not in Australia’s public interest.
What was new in the negotiations about the second cancellation of the visa was the argument that Djokovic was an idol of the anti-vaxxers, Australia’s opponents of vaccination, and could incite them to take new actions or even to riot. Djokovic’s lawyers once again described this as “illogical, irrational and unreasonable” and asked whether the minister had also considered that expelling the tennis player could incite Australian opponents of vaccination.
Australians have other concerns
Most Australians are just tired of the whole thing now. According to the latest polls, more than two thirds of them want the tennis superstar to be deported. Pushing ahead and gaining advantages over others is considered reprehensible in the country, even when shopping or at the bus stop. A superstar who wants to fight for an exemption with legal dodges certainly does not make it – not even if he is the best tennis player in the world.
Most Australians have completely different concerns – even if Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the former marketing expert, initially thought he could distract his compatriots from their real problems with the Djokovic case. Australia is being overtaken by a giant omicron wave. The daily number of infections has been around 100,000 for days.
For almost two years, the Australians had been able to limit the number of Covid deaths to under 2000, often with many personal victims. Now that number has risen to nearly 2,700 in just a few weeks. In the media you see pictures of completely exhausted doctors and nurses. Some of them, often still young and inexperienced, were trained to take care of Covid-19 patients in intensive care beds within a few days.
“I’m afraid for my grandmother. If she gets sick now and has to go to the hospital, we can’t help her,” a young nurse sobbed in a report. The hospitals are full. Patients are triaged, important surgeries and treatments are delayed even for cancer patients.
The medical practices are also completely overwhelmed. They should advise Covid patients, administer booster vaccinations and vaccinate children. But they have to cancel numerous appointments because they don’t get enough vaccines. Urgently needed rapid tests are rare – even if some products are made in Australia. But much of the testing is going abroad because the Australian governments failed to place orders in time.
The shelves of many supermarkets are empty – there is a lack of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. The supply chains are broken. There is a shortage of workers everywhere. The government has relaxed quarantine regulations for employees in the most important areas. But that doesn’t help when people are sick.
Australian government failure
It’s midsummer in Australia, the children are still on summer vacation. Now many people worry that the return to school classes at the end of January could make the situation even worse.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pushing for a return to schools. Delaying the start of school would reduce the workforce by another five percent, he said in a press conference. But many parents do not want to send their children to school unvaccinated and the vaccination program is progressing very slowly.
Many Australians see the situation as a failure on the part of the federal government and especially the Prime Minister, who pushed ahead with the opening of the previously cautious Australia in December last year. But Omicron thwarted him and other politicians.
The Causa Djokovic initially seemed a welcome distraction to him. Morrison eagerly participated in the discussion about Djokovic’s visa. But since the affair turned into a farce, he’s been conspicuously reticent. Immigration Secretary Alex Hawke must now bear the political consequences.