The world’s most pointless legal fight trundles on but at least it shows up some glaring inconsistencies in Australia at the moment in the pointlessness of the whole affair
A) That Australian lawyers seem to have problems filling in forms
Read the Daily Express https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1547337/Novak-Djokovic-lawyers-court-appearance-Australian-Open
Djokovic says he has dumped the lawyers, Hall & Wilcox say he has still got them on the team
Here are your two Spelling Bee Champions
Natalie Bannister Partner & Commercial National Practice Leader
Penelope Ford Partner
B) That the whole thing is an utter waste of taxpayer dollars that will be spent with our spelling champs above as well as other deserving lawyers
Novak Djokovic visa saga could cost Aussie taxpayers ‘close to half a million’ in legal fees
Australian taxpayers may end up forking out “close to half a million dollars” in legal fees in the Novak Djokovic visa saga.
The world number one’s legal battle to stay in Australia will begin on Monday at the Federal Court. Currently in detention in Melbourne’s Park Hotel, Djokovic will find out whether he’s allowed to stay and play in the Australian Open.
C) For the first time in ages the world is (sort of) paying attention to the appalling way the Australian Federal government treats refugees
The BBC reports Djokovic stay highlights refugee concerns at Melbourne detention hotel
Speaking on the phone from inside the building, Mohammad Joy Miah said he was feeling “mentally broken”.
“I have not had any fresh light or fresh air from outside. My life is a room,” he told the BBC.
He also shared a picture that he says was taken at the end of December showing maggots in his dinner. “I ate two or three that were in my broccoli” before the guards agreed to take the meal away, he recalled.
Chris Breen, an activist with the Refugee Action Collective, said the biggest problem for those being held there was the “indefinite nature of their detention”.
“If you’re only there for a couple of days, a room in a hotel is not the end of the world. But if you’re stuck there, it’s a very different story.
“Djokovic at least knows that at some point he’ll get out – whether that’s getting a visa or deported, but the refugees don’t have that.”
Mr Breen also said he suspected that staff would be “a lot more careful” with Djokovic in terms of things like food.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre estimates that there are now 33 refugees and people seeking asylum inside the Park Hotel, among some 70 held across Australia’s onshore detention centres.
The Park Hotel has been housing refugees and asylum seekers since late 2020.
Kurdish refugee Mostafa “Moz” Azimitabar, who spent more than a year in immigration hotels including two months at the Park Hotel, described his room there as a “coffin”.
He said he spent about 23 hours a day inside the room he shared with one other person, where the window was tinted and sealed shut.
