tickingbird
As an ardent tennis fan I think it’s a shame that this fiasco was allowed to play out. I’m not a fan of Djokovic but he’s a supreme tennis player and the AO will be worse off without him.
However, it’s obvious someone at the Australian end gave him the go ahead to enter and play. I find it highly unlikely he just travelled all that way just assuming he’d be let in. It’s left a blight on the AO and definitely diminished the Aus government.
I don’t think you can lay this at the door of the Australian government. Tennis Australia has a lot to answer for, as backed by the government in Victoria, they were the ones responsible for the exemption certificate - even though they knew that a recent covid infection was not a valid reason for exemption. Immigration officers followed incorrect procedures which led to the first cancellation of his visa, but in reinstating it, the judge didn’t take into account that his exemption certificate wasn’t legal, and that was why the Federal government stepped in and exercised their right for a review in Federal court. Nothing I’ve seen or heard so far has convinced me that this wasn’t an attempt by an arrogant and entitled man, to circumvent the rules everyone else has to follow.