“Novak Djokovic was not guaranteed entry into the country despite the exemption”: State lawyers to the court ahead of the final verdict
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Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic will have to spend one more night in the Federal quarantine centre as his lawyers fight for him in the court where they hope to overturn the decision of the Australian government that denied him his visa on his arrival in Melbourne when he landed hoping that the medical exemption would be enough to grant him entry.
That was not the case however as the government made it clear that the visa remains in the hands of the government and exemption is just one level of clearance. While Djokovic was subjected to nearly 9 hours of questioning at the airport by the immigration officers as he failed to justify his need for a medical exemption.
With the court verdict set to be announced on Monday, 10th January, some documents filed by the government lawyers against Djokovic have been released which have brought further clarity on the matter and whether Djokovic was actually unaware of the rules and policy.
“There is no such thing as an assurance of entry by a non-citizen into Australia. Rather, there are criteria and conditions for entry, and reasons for refusal or cancellation of a visa. The email from the department stated that the applicant’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,” read the 13-page document that has been since then gone viral.
Government officials dismiss Novak Djokovic’s ‘Covid positive’ claims
One of the developments that developed later were the claims of the lawyers of Djokovic who claimed that the player had tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16 which would eventually allow him to enter the country and also play at the Grand Slam. However, the government officials dismissed the claim as well.
“There is no suggestion that the applicant had ‘acute major medical illness’ in December 2021. All he has said is that he tested positive for COVID-19,” the government submission said further in the document. However, the claims of Djokovic being positive were later ridiculed on Twitter after photos of him attending ceremonies when he should have been actually isolating, went viral.
This certainly solidifies the government’s case against the player while also proving that the country has total control who will they allow and who they won’t while also bringing into the light that somewhere the player might have been aware that he might be detained from entering given his non-vaccinated status.
Also Read: Australian government faces a huge setback in the Novak Djokovic court case!
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)