Australia says Djokovic never had assurances his visa would be accepted, questions whether he had Covid-19 in December
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Published 09/01/2022 at 16:44 GMT
In the latest round of a legal back-and-forth, the Australian government has taken aim at Novak Djokovic's arguments for why he should be allowed to enter the country. The government's lawyers claim Djokovic never had any assurances that his visa would be accepted. An appeal hearing on Monday will determine whether Djokovic can compete at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic supporters continue vigil outside Melbourne hotel
Australia’s government has insisted that Novak Djokovic never had any assurances that he would be allowed to enter the country and also questioned whether he actually had Covid-19 in December, in court documents filed ahead of the World No. 1's appeal hearing.
Lawyers for the Department of Home Affairs filed a 13-page document on Sunday outlining their reasons for why Djokovic’s appeal against a decision to cancel his visa should be dismissed at Monday’s hearing.
They argue that Australia’s border officials were under no obligation to accept Djokovic’s “so-called” medical exemption to enter the country, which he had been granted by Tennis Australia and the local state government.
Djokovic’s lawyers have previously said that he received an email from the department indicating that he met the requirements to enter the country before being barred by border agents after landing in Melbourne on Wednesday.
However, the government’s response says that it had not offered any guarantee that “his so-called ’medical exemption’ would be accepted.”
”This is because there is no such thing as an assurance of entry by a non-citizen into Australia,” the document states. ”Rather, there are criteria and conditions for entry, and reasons for refusal or cancellation of a visa.”
Addressing Djokovic’s claim about the email, the document adds:
”The email from the Department stated that (Djokovic’s) responses to his Australian Traveller Declaration indicated that he met the requirements for ’quarantine free’ travel into Australia. But that says nothing about the power of the Minister (or her delegate) to interrogate those responses, the evidence upon which they were based, and conclude that a cancellation power was enlivened under the Act upon his arrival into Australia.”
The court filings from Djokovic’s lawyers on Saturday showed that he tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16, which they said granted him a medical exemption. All foreign visitors to Australia must be either fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or have a medical exemption.
However, the government’s lawyers said that wasn’t proof enough that he had in fact recently recovered from the coronavirus, which can give individuals exemption from vaccination rules.
The document argues that “there is no suggestion that the applicant (Djokovic) had ’acute major medical illness’ in December 2021. All he has said is that he tested positive for COVID-19. That is not the same.”
Djokovic has spent four nights in an Australian immigration detention hotel after his visa was cancelled when he landed in Melbourne, following a lengthy interview process that lasted most of the night.
Earlier Sunday, the Australian government failed in a bid to delay the appeals hearing by two days until Wednesday in order to get extra time to prepare. That means the hearing is set to take place Monday as initially scheduled, just one week before the start of the Australian Open. If Djokovic loses his appeal, he is set to be deported.
The case has become a hot political issue in Australia, where the decision to grant Djokovic a medical exemption had infuriated many after months of lockdown and strict social distancing measures.
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