Judge Anthony Kelly said he overturned the government’s decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa because the tennis star wasn’t given enough time to respond to the notice of cancellation when interviewed by border officers upon his arrival in Australia last week.
Djokovic was told in the early hours of Thursday morning, after travelling for 25 hours from Serbia, that he had until 8.30am to provide comments in response to the notice of intention to withdraw his visa. However, his visa was cancelled at 7.42am.
If Djokovic had until 8.30am, Kelly said he could have consulted others and made submissions about why his visa should not be cancelled.
The following are the points made by Kelly as per the court orders. In the text below, the Applicant is Djokovic and the Respondent is the Minister for Home Affairs whose delegate took the decision at the airport.
• A. The respondent concedes that the delegate’s decision to proceed with the interview and make a decision to cancel the applicant’s visa pursuant to (section) 116 of the Migration Act 1958 (Commonwealth) was unreasonable in circumstances where:
• (1) At 5:20 a.m. on 6 January 2022 the applicant was told that he could have until 8.30 a.m. to provide comments in response to a notice of intention to consider cancellation under (section) 116 of the Migration Act 1958 (Commonwealth);
• (2) Instead, the applicant’s comments were then sought at about 6:14 a.m.
• (3) The delegate’s decision to cancel the applicant’s visa was made at 7.42 a.m;
• (4) The applicant was thus denied until 8.30 a.m. to make comments;
• (5) Had the applicant been allowed until 8:30 a.m., he could have consulted others and made further submissions to the delegate about why his visa should not be cancelled.