Australia live news updates: Novak Djokovic case before court; Victoria reports 23 Covid deaths, NSW 20 and Qld six

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2022/jan/15/australia-news-live-updates-novak-djokovic-to-be-detained-amid-legal-battle

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The Australian Capital Territory recorded 1,320 new Covid cases in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, with almost even numbers of rapid antigen tests and PCR tests.

There are 30 people in hospital, including three in intensive care.

Get your kids vaccinated, Covid commander Jeroen Weimar says. It’s not always that easy, as Rafqa Touma reports:

Let’s go to Queensland now, where chief health officer John Gerrard is giving an update. There have been six deaths there, and about 20,000 new cases recorded.

Gerrard said that if you have any symptoms you should assume you have Covid and isolate:

He said it was likely the numbers would keep increasing:

Covid commander Jeroen Weimar has been speaking in Melbourne, urging people to get their children vaccinated. He said:

As it stands, Novak Djokovic does not have a visa to stay in Australia. He is, in the language of the Migration Act, “unlawful” and must be detained.

The court has ordered he be allowed to stay in his lawyers’ offices between 10am and 2pm today under the supervision of two Australian Border Force officers. After that, he is to be returned to detention.

And we are done. The hearing for today is finished. We are waiting to see the application and submissions from Novak Djokovic’s legal team – due by midday, and the government’s submissions – by 10pm tonight.

There, we will see the arguments that are going to be put forward for Djokovic staying in the country (why the minister’s decision to cancel his visa was unreasonable), and the government’s case for removing him.

We know some of what the government will argue – that Djokovic’s continued presence in the country has the potential to “excite anti-vaccination sentiment” in Australia. It was argued in court on Friday that kicking him out of the country would do much the same.

The judge is going to consider ordering the matter before the full bench of the federal court (three judges) and will advise today on that.

Tasmania has recorded 1,139 new Covid cases. Twenty-two people are in hospital and one person is in intensive care.

Most of those positives came from rapid antigen tests, and just 255 from PCR tests.

Chief health officer Paul Kelly has been talking about the potential for a fourth booster shot at a press conference:

Health minister Greg Hunt was also there. He said:

The Novak Djokovic “debacle” is an embarrassment that could have been avoided, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said this morning. He said it was “characteristic” of the Morrison government:

We’re underway. Justice David O’Callaghan has raised the possibility of Djokovic’s hearing tomorrow coming before a full court of three judges in the federal court, rather than being heard by a single judge.

“A full court can be convened commencing tomorrow morning,” the judge said.

Djokovic’s legal team is happy for the matter to come before a full court, three judges. The immigration minister opposes a full court hearing.

We are about to get underway in the federal court. Novak Djokovic’s attempt to stay in the country has been brought before a new judge, Justice David O’Callaghan, this morning.

A final outcome is not expected today (though nothing would surprise in this case). Today’s hearing will deal with Djokovic’s transfers between meetings with border force officials, his lawyers and detention, and any procedural matters concerning the hearing, which will take place tomorrow.

But we are expecting submissions from Djokovic’s lawyers today, which will outline his case to stay in the country. Essentially, he has to argue why the immigration minister’s decision to exclude him from the country on public health grounds is unreasonable.

For those playing along at home:

Strap in, folks. Novak Djokovic v minister for immigration, citizenship, migrant services and multicultural affairs is about to get underway in the federal court of Australia in Melbourne. Ben Doherty is going to be keeping you updated.

Ahead of Novak Djokovic’s last-ditch legal bid to stay in Australia to defend his Australian Open title, his homeland Serbia has swung behind him in vociferous support.

A court hearing in the Federal Court begins in less than half an hour. We are expecting to see submissions from Djokovic’s legal team on why he should be allowed to stay in the country before lunchtime.

On Instagram, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić said the world number one was being harassed by the Australian government for its own political advantage:

In nationalistic overtones, Vucic said Serbia would continue to defend Djokovic:

Serbia’s royal family also spoke out in defence of their “brave brother”. Prince Filip and Princess Danica Karađorđević, are the son and daughter-in-law of Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, the Belgrade-based Crown Prince of Yugoslavia:

Michael McGowan has taken a look at New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet’s hectic start:

And here are the Victorian Covid case numbers: 23 people have died, and there are 115 people in intensive care. There were 25,526 positive cases, 12,857 of those results are from rapid antigen tests.

“Although Angus Taylor’s interest in Jam Land is through an indirect shareholding, it puts him in the unusual position of being connected to a case challenging the decision of one of his government’s own ministers,” Lisa Cox and Anne Davies write:

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Here are today’s Covid numbers from New South Wales. Twenty lives lost, those poor families. There were 48,768 cases, 21,748 of them from rapid antigen tests.

NSW Health says almost 16,000 of those rapid test results are from the past week. They also say there may be some doubling up of numbers, where people have had a rapid test and a PCR test. It’s getting harder to understand the meaning of these numbers.