18/01/2022
I greeted the decision of the Full Federal Court in the Novak Djokovic case with equal measures of joy and trepidation. The joy emanates from the fact that the Federal Court chose to apply the law equally between the privileged and entitled Tennis Champion and the refugees and asylum seekers that come to our shores seeking refuge from persecution and the likelihood of torture and ultimately death.
The trepidation that I have is that this decision reaffirms the supreme power that the Minister has in these cases. During the last few years I have dealt with over twenty cases where the Minister has exercised his sole discretion to deny people with disabilities the right to permanent residency in this country. The argument in every one of those cases has been that they represented a “burden” to the taxpayers of Australia. In a number of those cases I have been able to get the Minister to overturn the decision in favour of the applicant. Unfortunately in a number of other cases the applicant has had to leave the country and return to a life of exclusion and discrimination in other countries.
Entrenching this immense amount of power to influence the lives of innocent people is frightening at best and highlights the fact that there is a need for us to develop a culture of human rights in this country. Let us work to achieve that aim.
And let me emphasise that in Mr Djokovic’s case I support the Minister refusing an anti vaxxer the right to come to this country to spread his message.
Suresh Rajan