Novak - četnik sa reketom

Erős Pista wrote:

But the hearing started around 10.30am with members of the public and media still struggling to watch the proceedings.

Arriver sur le live de l'audience #Djokovic pour entendre des successions de citations d'articles de loi australienne... pic.twitter.com/GFu3Ixwjuu

— Apolline Bouchery (@apobouchery) January 9, 2022

Who would’ve thunk it? Djokovic court case supposed to be steamed live right now, and Perrotet has a 10am press conference, and wonder of all wonders, Morrison follows at 10:40 or so. Coincidence, or another strategic diversion?

— TimeForChange (@JoanneO62754489) January 9, 2022

Here, a professor and an eminently qualified physician have produced and provided to the applicant a medical exemption. Further to that, that medical exemption and the basis on which it was given was separately given by a further independent expert specialist panel established by the Victorian state government and that document was in the hands of the delegate.

The point I am agitated about is ‘what more could this man have done?

In the waking hours of Thursday morning, at 4am a person is instructed to and complies with instruction to turn off his phone, is effectively incommunicado for the entire or vast majority of the period from midnight to 7:42am from when the cancellation is effected. [Djokovic] is putting to the delegate...’if you would let me have enough time so when Tennis Australia is awake, when my agent is awake and I’m able to communicate with them by telephone we can effectively take up the opportunity embodied in this invitation to provide you anything further you might want

Judge Kelly said in effect, Mr Djokovic told officials he would never have come to Australia if he did not think he could not have gained entry.

Why Djokovic's time at the airport is crucial
His lawyers are now onto their final arguments - and it's all about Djokovic's experience at the airport.
This is crucial because much of the legal argument flows from how he was treated and what he was told by officials.
Legal grounds like "procedural unfairness" and "legal reasonableness" are essentially protections for people to be treated according to established rules. In this case it's an immigration official making that decision late at night to cancel Djokovic's visa.
The player's lawyers are arguing that several facts of the situation made this unfair; not least the fact that Djokovic was fresh off a 25-hour plane journey, unrested, and unclear as to what had gone wrong with his visa.
Djokovic didn't get to speak to his lawyers or other authorities who could help during his time at the airport.
After being approached by officials, he asked for extra time to wait until the morning - 0830am - to hear from his team and this was initially agreed to by officials. He then went to sleep to get some rest, but he was woken up around 06:00 by officials who allegedly pressured him to respond "because it was better for him if they made the decision right away".
Djokovic also says they told him to accept his visa cancellation immediately so then his legal team would know what they were dealing with in the morning.
These directions were "spurious" and "manifestly unjust", his lawyer says.
If such grounds of unfairness are convincing to the judge, those are legal errors by which Djokovic can win his case.

Judge Anthony Kelly, reads out a minute agreed to by both the government and Djokovic, where he quashes the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa, orders government to pay costs, and for Djokovic to be released from detention in 30 minutes with his passport and personal effects released to him.

It is not over yet. Christopher Tran says the Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews reserves her personal power to remove Djokovic from Australia.

— Karen Sweeney (@karenlsweeney) January 10, 2022

Government counsel Christopher Tran says the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, will consider whether to exercise a personal power of cancelling the visa.
That means that once the decision is revoked, Hawke could re-cancel it, as was flagged earlier in the day.
Kelly notes that if the minister makes a decision to remove, then Djokovic cannot return for three years, and it could be appealed. He expects to be “fully informed in advance” if he is required for future proceedings.
“In a view, the stakes have risen rather than receded,” he said.

To summarise:
- The Australian government has agreed to revoke the decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa last week, meaning the visa he came to Australia on stands, and he will be released from detention and get his passport and other personal effects back.
- The reason for this is the government acknowledged it didn’t give Djokovic enough time after notifying him of the intent to cancel his visa to speak to others and respond fully.
- Notwithstanding that, the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, can now personally intervene and decide to cancel his visa anyway on entirely new grounds. Which the government flagged in court may be something that happens.
- If that happens, it could end up back in court because Djokovic would face being banned from Australia for three years if the minister decides to cancel the visa.