Tennis star Novak Djokovic has officially had his Australian visa cancelled following a last-ditch Federal Court hearing in Melbourne.
The judge's decision upholds Immigration Minister Alex Hawke's announcement on Friday - just three days before Djokovic was due to open his bid for a record 21st Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open - to cancel his visa for the second time, after the original cancellation was overturned on Monday.
"Today, I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so," Hawke said on Friday.
Djokovic will now drop out of the tournament, with his place taken by a 'lucky loser' from qualifying, who will presumably face Serb Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round.
The court's full reasons for endorsing Hawke's order will be released at a later date and Reuters quotes a court spokeperson as saying further orders may be sought and the hearing resumed, but any further proceedings may still be too late for Djokovic's Open hopes.
Visa cancelled
The Serb flew into Australia from Spain (via Dubai) on January 5, apparently believing he had a medical exemption based on him testing positive for the virus in the past six months, despite a strict border requirement to be double vaccinated against COVID-19.
He was questioned by Australian Border Force Police at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport for about eight hours, before his visa was cancelled and he was detained at The Park Hotel in Carlton.
"Djokovic failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia and his visa has been subsequently cancelled," the Border Force said.
Visa reinstated
The men's world No.1 was in detention for four days, before the decision to cancel his Australian visa was quashed by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia on Monday.
The Australian Government argued non-citizens had no right of guaranteed entry to Australia, questioned his claimed exemption and stressed that even if Djokovic won the court action, it reserved the right to detain him again and remove him from the country.
Judge Anthony Kelly, who had earlier criticised the long questioning of Djokovic at Melbourne's airport when he landed, said both the interview and the visa cancellation was "unreasonable".
Judge Kelly said Djokovic was not given enough time to speak to tennis organisers and lawyers, and ordered he should be freed within 30 minutes, and his passport and other personal documents returned to him.
That wasn't the end of the drama, with Hawke still able to personally intervene and cancel his visa.
Hawke cancels visa
After five days of anticipation, with public pressure building and the Australian Open looming, Hawke decided at 6:03pm Friday to use his personal power to cancel Djokovic's visa for the second time.
He said the decision was based on "public interest" and "protecting Australia's borders".
"This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on January 10, 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.
"In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic.
"The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia's borders in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Second court hearing
Djokovic's lawyers immediately challenged the decision in a late-night appeal - less than three hours after Hawke used discretionary powers to revoke the visa.
After the late-night hearing on Friday, Djokovic was allowed to spend the day with lawyers preparing for the court hearing, before spending the night in a detention hotel.
Djokovic's lawyers challenged Hawke's decision based on the Minister not providing any evidence that Djokovic's presence in Australia may "foster anti-vaccination sentiment".
They said Australia's effort to deport him was "irrational" and "unreasonable", as they tried to dismantle the Government's arguments that Djokovic's anti-vaccine views were a public threat and could cause "civil unrest".
"There's not a single line of evidence... [that's] provided any probative value whatsoever that the proposition of the mere presence of Djokovic in Australia may somehow foster anti-vaccination sentiment," said lawyer Nick Wood during the hearing.
Wood mentioned past Djokovic's previous anti-vax comments, before clarifying he was no expert, kept an open mind and wanted to choose what was best for his body.
Wood also said Djokovic had attended several tournaments around the world while being unvaccinated and there were no instances of anti-vax lobbying at any tennis event during the pandemic.
"If there was any foundation for thinking that Mr Djokovic's presence and participation at a tennis tournament might somehow lead to this anti-vax sentiment, one would expect that it would be supported by some kind of evidence about anti-vax protests or rallies or the like at tennis events," Wood said.
Government lawyer Stephen Lloyd said that Djokovic refusing vaccination and repeatedly ignoring safety measures - including failing to isolate while COVID-19 positive - was evidence enough of his views.
"The Minister took the view that his presence in Australia would encourage people to emulate his apparent disregard for those kind of safety measures," Lloyd said.
Djokovic will now be immediately deported and faces a three-year ban from Australia, but Hawke could waive that ban.
