More details have emerged in court and written submissions about the hours between Djokovic’s arrival in Australia late Wednesday night on January 5, and the moment his visa was canceled.
According to court documents, Djokovic arrived at Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine from Spain just before midnight and was taken aside for questioning.
Djokovic’s legal team said at 4:11 a.m. he was purportedly given notice of intention to consider canceling his visa under section 116 of the Migration Act.
A further interview was started at 6:07 a.m., and just over an hour later a decision was made to cancel it, and around 7:42 a.m. Djokovic was told his visa was void.
During Monday’s hearing Judge Kelly said: When we get to about 4:00 a.m. and travel through to about 6:30 a.m. on the morning of last Thursday, the transcript is replete with statements by Mr. Djokovic saying, 'If you will let me talk to people although you've taken my phone from me, I will try and get you what you want.'"
Djokovic's lawyer, Nick Wood, Senior Counsel, interrupted with "indeed your honor" before expanding on that point.
"Not only was Mr. Djokovic doing his level best to provide to the officer at Tullamarine everything that he wanted, and did indeed provide material to that officer, but Mr. Djokovic ... did indeed provide that material, that evidence from medical practitioners before he boarded the aircraft,” Wood said.
Later, Commonwealth barrister Christopher Tran referred to reply submissions that suggested Djokovic had felt pressured during the interview.
Tran said: “Can I make it crystal clear that what your honor can't do is find that any officer intended to pressure him."
Judge Kelly said there was evidence of a subjective belief that Djokovic was pressured during the interview, which Tran accepted.