World tennis star Novak Djokovic lost his Australian visa cancellation judicial review following a hearing in the Australian Federal Court. Chief Judge James Allsop’s verdict came following a unanimous decision by the three judges who heard the case in Melbourne. The decision means nine-time champion Djokovic will not be able to defend his title at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday. As Chief Justice James Allsop pointed out before announcing the decision, the court’s job was simply to assess whether the decision made by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke was illegal, irrational or legally unreasonable. The court found that the reasons outlined by Novak Djokovic’s lawyers did not prove this. It means that the decision made by the Minister of Immigration Alex Hawke to cancel the visas of Djokovic who will be expelled from Australia and could face a ban on entry to Australia for up to three years was correct.
During the trial for the appeal against the second cancellation of Novak Djokovic’s visa, the lawyer of the number 1 in the world, the same Nick Wood who won the first appeal before Judge Kelly of the Federal and Family Court, replied to the thesis of the Hawke according to which the presence of Novak Djokovic would have increased the consensus towards no-vaxes and the risk of demonstrations or riots. “The minister did not consider the alternative scenario,” Wood said. “If Djokovic is expelled, a choice that will compromise his career, it is quite obvious that this decision will be able to generate no vax feelings.” The lawyers do not seem inclined to file a new appeal. The Serbian champion could have intervened at the hearing and clarified things to her personally, instead he chose not to. However, Australian government lawyer Stephen Lloyd said, ‘he never presented material evidence that he did not get vaccinated for any medical reason. At the time of the minister’s decision, the fact that he was not vaccinated was well known and unequivocally known. Everyone could come to the conclusion that if Djokovic has not been vaccinated so far, he has done so by choice ». Concluding his speech, the government attorney pointed out that Minister Hawke does not have to prove that Djokovic will actually stimulate no-vax sentiments, only that he could. That’s enough, he explained, to decide to revoke his visa within the terms of the law.