Novak Djokovic updates: Tennis star 'extremely disappointed' to lose his bid to stay in Australia

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has released a statement:

The Full Federal Court of Australia unanimously decided to dismiss Mr Novak Djokovic's application for judicial review which sought to challenge the Minister for Immigration's decision to cancel his visa.

This cancellation decision was made on health, safety and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.

I welcome the decision to keep our borders strong and keep Australians safe.

As I said on Friday, Australians have made many sacrifices during this pandemic, and they rightly expect the result of those sacrifices to be protected.

Over the pandemic, together we have achieved one of the lowest death rates, strongest economies and highest vaccination rates, in the world.

Strong borders are fundamental to the Australian way of life as is the rule of law.

Our Government has always understood this and has been prepared to take the decisions and actions necessary to protect the integrity of our borders.

I thank the Court for their prompt attention to these issues and the patience of all involved as we have worked to resolve this issue.

It's now time to get on with the Australian Open and get back to enjoying tennis over the summer.

Chadwiko on January 16th, 2022 at 07:02 UTC »

Importantly, the judges dismissed his application for appeal, not the appeal itself.

Essentially the ELI5 is that the judges ruled that the Australian Government does have the right to refuse entry to anyone, and it wasn't the court's place to overturn that.

There isn't really any coming back from that.

Krobo_ on January 16th, 2022 at 07:00 UTC »

An IMPORTANT thing to understand is that the responsibility of the court is to determine the legality of the minister's decision. Essentially it is simply ruling that it is legal for the government to deport Novak. The merits of the decision are irrelevant to the consideration.

In the court's decision, His Honour James Allsop, Chief Justice said:

"This is not an appeal against the decision of the executive government. It is an application to the court, as a separate arm of government - being the Commonwealth Judicial branch, to review the decision of a member of the executive: the minister, for the lawfulness or legality of the decision on the 3 grounds put forward.

These grounds focus on whether the decision was for different reasons, irrational or legally unreasonable. It is no part of the function of the court to decide upon the merits or wisdom of the decision."

Zuki_LuvaBoi on January 16th, 2022 at 06:56 UTC »

Was ruled unanimous by all three judges

Edit: This also likely means he won't be able to return to Australia for the next 3 years