There is a lot of noise in media related to the events that took place in January 2022 in Australia around the deportation of Novak Djokovic. He is the world's #1 tennis player and he was about to participate in the Australian Open grand slam in January 2022. However, he was deported after two court hearings.
These are the facts about that case and answers to some burning questions.
Did Djokovic have a valid visa?
Was vaccination mandatory for Australian Open 2022?
Was Djokovic deported for lying on his visa application?
Did Djokovic tried to used his privilege as a rich person to enter Australia unvaccinated?
To answer these questions we need to take a look at the facts and evidence. Documents, recordings, videos, and any material that we have.
Basic facts and timeline
Novak Djokovic arrived in Australia on 5. January 2022. He was immediately detained and interrogated for more than 8 hours.
Djokovic spent several days in a "detention hotel" for people that seek refuge in Australia and are waiting for their visa resolutions (some of them are waiting for 9 years already).
Djokovic appealed to the court and on 10. January 2022, judge Anthony Kelly ordered that Djokovic was to be immediately released. The Judge said: "be released immediately and forthwith from immigration detention".
Australia’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke waited for 3 days before he used his powers to revoke Djokovic's visa on 14 January 2022. He had a legal right to do that, reserved for terrorists and other emergency cases. His reasons for revoking Djokovic's visa do not mention the vaccination exemption. The documents are here (link) and the screenshots will follow in this article.
Djokovic appealed to the Federal Court on 16. January he lost the appeal. There was no obligation to provide him "natural justice" (no trial or evidence is needed, the Minister can deport whomever he wants based on whatever reason he wants). Djokovic lost because according to Australian law, the Minister has such absolute powers. They call it "God-like" powers in Australia.
Vaccination was not a mandatory condition to participate at Australian Open 2022
Evidence #1 - Look at the video recording of the Australian Prime Minister when asked about the exemption from vaccination (related to the Australian Open 2022 tournament). This is from 4. January 2022, one day before Djokovic was detained in Australia upon his arrival.
The Prime Minister clearly acknowledged the existence of exemptions from vaccinations. This means that the Primer Minister of Australia was aware that vaccination was not mandatory for participants of the Australian Open 2022.
Australian Open is a massive sports event that has to comply with thousands of Australian laws. COVID-19 pandemic triggered a chain of high-visibility legislative rules that apply to the entire public of Australia. So according to these rules, the Australian Open issued the following document to the participants before their arrival.
Source tennisnow.com
Also a screenshot from January 8th, 2022, from the official Australian government site (here), still showed that exemptions are a valid way to enter Australia. This website was changed later (checked 1. February 2022.)
To further prove that various exemptions existed in Australia we can take a look at the exemption that the Australian Prime minister himself took and used. This shows that exemptions are nothing unusual in Australia, quite normal actually.
Another fact to consider is related to the interrogation of Novak Djokovic by the border police (here is the full transcript).
INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Now question regarding your vaccination, are you vaccinated for COVID-19? Not vaccinated?
DJOKOVIC: I am not vaccinated.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you. Have you ever had COVID?
DJOKOVIC: Yes. I had COVID twice.
If vaccination was mandatory to enter Australia then why did the border police ask Djokovic has he ever had COVID? It was important information for them, otherwise, why would they ask?
The fact is that vaccines help human immune systems create antibodies (against COVID in this case). The same antibodies are created when a person contracts COVID.
Evidence #2 - At least two persons (that we know of) related to AO 2022 entered Australia and passed the border without any issues - based on the same exemption that Djokovic had. They were not vaccinated but had an exemption based on the fact that they contracted COVID in the last several months.
These two individuals are Renata Voracova and Filip Serdarusic. According to both of them, they passed the border without any unusual questions. They simply presented the documentation which showed their medical history of COVID, documents related to exemptions, and passed the border.
Renata Voracova and Filip Serdarusic are only the two individuals that we know of. Many others could have passed the Australian border using the same exemption.
But unlike them, Novak Djokovic was detained and interrogated for more than 6 hours on January 5th and 6th 2022. He is asked to turn his mobile phone off, denied contact with the outside world, and was exposed to something that can be described as sleep deprivation. You can read the transcript here. Notice how the time of his interactions, 4 AM in the morning, waking him up, etc. And Djokovic is someone who came to Australia for 2 weeks to play a tournament.
Did Djokovic receive privileged treatment because he's rich?
Renata Voracova and Filip Serdarusic are not rich, nor as famous as Djokovic. They are not superstars. This fact will is very important in answering the question about Novak's privilege. You can read Serdarusic's testimonial here about how well he was treated by the border police.
Privileged treatment for Djokovic? No. On the contrary, he received much, much worse treatment than other (not so rich) people. He was detained, interrogated and trialed while others have passed the border using the same kind of exemptions.
Djokovic's visa was approved using two independent medical boards
To get the exemption, two independent medical boards had to approve Djokovic's documentation. One Victorian and one Federal board. There were multiple people involved in this, dealing with strict regulations given by the Australian Government.
The question is obvious - why were two medical boards reviewing someone's documentation if vaccination was mandatory to enter Australia?
The Answer: because exemptions were valid and sufficient reason to enter Australia, just as vaccination is. Similar exemptions still exist in Australia. This was officially stated of the Government' website, an information worth repeating here:
Djokovic wasn't deported for "lying" on his visa application
Djokovic's travel agent declared checked a box "No" to question #2 about traveling in the 14 days before he flew to Australia on Jan 5. He trained in Spain on Jan 2, and he did so publicly. There are photos on the internet which is impossible to hide.
Djokovic's travel agent provided the documentation that shows his travel history and tickets a box that says "didn't travel". It's an obvious checkbox mistake and not a deception - because if Djokovic wanted to hide the facts about his travels he wouldn't hand over the evidence in the first place.
It is like bringing your car to a garage with only three wheels and ticking a checkbox "my car has all the wheels". An obvious mistake on the form. But the mistake is a mistake (unless you make it, dear reader, in which case it should be neglected, right?), and it would be a very easy reason to deport Djokovic - provided that it was indeed a sufficient reason.
The wrongly ticked box wasn't enough of a reason to cancel the visa, because if it was, there would be no further talk, hearings, going to Federal Court, or any discussion about it. If ticking the wrong box was a reason, this story would be finished much earlier.
Djokovic's visa revocation is quashed at the first hearing and the visa is OK.
"What else could this man have done?" - asked the Judge.
After being interrogated for more than 8 hours, and detained in the "hotel" for several days, Djokovic appealed. It was an easy and quick trial in Djokovic's favor, and the Judge stated: that Djokovic is to "be released immediately and forthwith from immigration detention".
This is an excerpt from the official documentation:
Did Djokovic win the first case because of "procedural errors"?
Some say that Djokovic was released because of an "error in procedure". That is not a reasonable assumption. Imagine if a terrorist was detained at the border with 15kg of explosives and the judge released him for "procedural errors" and he was released along with 15kg of explosives. Imagine a judge ordering a terrorist to "be released immediately and forthwith from immigration detention"??
That wouldn't happen. The violation of rules and laws would still stand.
Using the same analogy, it's clear that Djokovic had a valid visa based on the same kind of (known) exemptions that enabled other people to pass the border. Because no amount of "procedural errors" would have anyone's visa validated.
To further prove this claim, here is an excerpt from the official documentation by the Australian Federal Court:
Djokovic's COVID test certificate is valid (nothing is falsified)
There are allegations in the media about the validity of Djokovic's COVID tests. Djokovic provided a positive COVID test result which some suspect is fake based on the "timestamps" and "IDs" of the documents he provided.
These allegations are debunked and proven by simple technical investigation. You can see more information here:
The reason for deportation: Djokovic was deported for "thought crimes", not visa-related issues
Minister Hawke gave his reasons in writing when he deported Djokovic. These are the reasons:
Further, the government lawyer at the 2nd trial admitted that the truth doesn't matter, only the perception of what Djokovic may think. Pay attention to the words "rightly or wrongly" (so, the truth doesn't matter), and "his presence seems to contribute" (again, the truth doesn't matter, it matters what "seems" to the government)
Djokovic appealed to the federal court who evaluated if the minister had such power and not if the reasoning for deportation is just and correct.
This is from the official documentation by the Australian Federal Court:
Imagine if you had a car that could go 200 miles per hour and you got a fine for that it COULD although you were never speeding and you followed all the rules. That's what happened in Australia. There was no evidence that Djokovic would "endorse anti-vaccination", nor he ever engaged himself in such endorsements.
On the contrary, Djokovic clearly stated in AUGUST 2020:
Credit NY Times
Djokovic was deported from Australia for who he is, not for what he had done. This is what "god-like" powers look like. A person from the government doesn't need to explain their decisions, not ground them in any kind of natural justice. From the official documents:
This kind of persecution is characteristic of totalitarian regimes like North Korea, Belarus, etc. History teaches us that persecution for "thought crimes" doesn't belong in civilized society anymore. The question is: is Australia eligible to host such an elite international tournament? And the answer is no.
However, not all Australians are blind to this totalitarian move by the state. The Alliance of Australian Lawyers issued this statement:
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns SC