'‘RULES ARE RULES, especially when it comes to our borders. No one is above these rules.’ So said Prime Minister Scott Morrison – his own hopes for a quiet January dashed – in defending the ham-fisted cancellation of tennis great Novak Djokovic’s visa on his arrival in Australia at the start of this year. And, to avoid doubt about where the strength lay in the Djokovic versus Australia stand-off, the consent orders agreed in the Federal Circuit Court between the parties made clear that the Minister for Immigration’s discretionary visa cancellation powers – which Michelle Grattan described in The Age as ‘hairy-chested’, and which, ironically, are above the rules of natural justice – meant the fate of Djokovic, known for his controversial stance on vaccination, still lay in the lap of the minister and his ‘God powers’.' (Introduction)
