Novak Djokovic, the former World no. 1 has had a bad start to his 2022. Last week he won a court battle to stay in Australia without getting vaccinated and without any visa cancellations. Now, the Morrison government has used their power and right to revoke his visa yet again post his straight out refusal to get vaccinated.
Australia as a country has banned entry for any person without vaccination due to the spread of the Covid-19 variants. Now, with Djokovic given medical exemption by the Australian Open, the government have finally ended the whole situation by revoking Djokvic’s visa due to lack of vaccination.
Australian Immigration minister Alex Hawke said, “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.
This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 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, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments.”
This means that the opponent Djokovic was drawn against in the first round of Australian Open will be given a free win to move ahead as the defending champion prepares to leave Australia.