A view from the BBC. This sums it up, at least up to this point. It’s a ping-pong of finger-pointing between the state government, Tennis Australia and the federal government.
More information going back and forth. Djokovik claims he has documents from the Department of Home Affairs clearing him to enter the country based on the approval of the jurisdiction. Since he got a letter of medical exemption from Tennis Australia, that would be his approval from the jurisdiction.
The federal circuit court has released information on Saturday on Djokovic’s claim of medical exemption with the dates ahead of the court date on Monday.
The federal government says that a vaccine is required to enter the country. Tennis Australia is pushing back, saying that 's not what the website has said.
Djokovic is claiming exemption based on having covid and recovered, but the dates are in question since the approval letter pre-dates the infection dates.
The title of that video is worded in a weird way. It looks like Djokovic made a request for extension, but this has nothing to do with Djokovic.
From the youtube video description:
“The Federal government’s request for an extra two days to ready its case against Novak Djokovic has been rejected, meaning the appeal against the cancelling of his visa will go ahead”
It was the Australian federal government which made a request for extension which was denied. The federal government wanted an extension until Wednesday.
It’s not clear why the federal government of Australia is trying to delay the court date. Since the federal government has already made its pronouncement that Djokovic lacked the documents to enter the country, there should be no reason for the federal government to need more time to prepare for the court case that the federal government is forcing.
After the denial of the federal government’s request for a delay, the court date is still set for Monday.
Tennis Australia is saying that they need to know the answer by Tuesday to schedule the players.
Also in that video, another tennis player was forced to leave the country after she had been granted admittance and played a warm-up round in December.
The video also shows the timeline of documents from both Home Affairs and Tennis Australia. Dec 30, he was given the document from Home Affairs and Jan 1 was given the exemption from Tennis Australia.
It gets even more farcical. According to the news this morning there is the possibility that Border Force will re-detain him even if the court frees him.
The judge has also said that he doesn’t appreciate the pressure from Tennis Australia for an early, quick decision.
Just read this last night. According to this article, if Djokovic had relied on the exemption from the State of Victoria and Tennis Australia, so did Prime Minister Scott Morrison. . . .until 24 hours AFTER Djokovic landed in Australia.
On Wednesday, the day of Djokovic’s arrival, Morrison made a statement that Djokovic’s exemption was in the hands of the State of Victoria and Tennis Australia. Both had approved Djokovic’s visa and exemption. 24 hours later, Djokovic was being detained and had his visa denied with the approval of the Prime Minister who had made a contradictory statement 24 hours earlier.
The “rules are rules” had shifted within 24 hours after Djokovic’s arrival.
Warning: long post below about the court case that I updated as it went along.
Watching the blow by blow on The Guardian. Much like watching tennis, I guess. But I don’t know the players.
This is what I wondered when I heard about the case as well. Judge Kelly asks, ‘what more could this man have done?’ [to prove his exemption status]
Update: The government is arguing that Djokovic asking to see his people to get more information to provide to the government counts as Djokovic’s response, so he wasn’t allowed to get more information from the people who handled his visa.
Wow, that’s like saying that if someone asks for their attorney, that counts as their only response allowed.
At 2:37, the government argues that the judge can’t find that the border officials pressured Djokovic, but the judge notes that Djokovic could have felt pressured despite the border officials’ intent with the officials darting in and out of the room.
At 2:58, the government attorney says he’s gong to be using case law from two cases he lost. lol
Then lunch. Quite amusing so far.
More update:
At 3:42, judge orders that Djokovic be allowed to leave the detention hotel to another location until the hearing is concluded.
At 3:50, federal circuit court will now be streamed live on youtube from the courts youtube channel. It looks like it’s getting set up now.
More update:
The youtube video started streaming. The government asked for more time. . . again. The judge asks if he can help expedite things. The government says no. The judge adjourns. The feed was cut. There were 14K people on the livestream before it was cut.
Djokovic won the visa appeal. He is ordered to be released. But the immigration minister is threatening to pull Djokovic’s visa for 3 years under the immigration minister’s own personal power.
Poor Scotty from Marketing nothing to smirk about, an election coming up, how is he going to appear tough on immigration?
Caught between a rock and a hard place with rumours that the Minister might use his discretion and cancel the visa anyway would show Scotty being tough but the sports fans… Oh dear?
Updated: The immigration minister will not arrest Djokovic tonight. The 4 hour window has elapsed to re-detain Djokovic, but his visa can still be cancelled at any time if there are grounds to do so.
Bit of a weird twist to the story. Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios may not play in the Australian Open because he just contracted covid.
Earlier Kyrgios had stated that unvaccinated players from other countries should not be allowed to play in the Australian Open because it could force the country back into lockdown. Now that Kyrgios has covid, it remains to be seen if he sits this out to protect the other people in the tournament and the rest of the country from covid.
Kyrgios did support Djokovic during the detention.
@gumbud Do you mean that’ costs ‘given’ to government’
means that Joko has to pay Gummy?
Only wish our courts were as Bolshi as yours though !!
Donkeyman!
