Legal Jargon - Tumblr Posts

Random side commentary: as someone that does government/public law as a day job, I’m highly intrigued to see how the Novak Djokovic visa cancellation plays out… safe to say a lot of people are seeing just how complicated migration and visa laws are for Australia (and in a way, that’s the whole point - it’s complicated to deter people from seeking entry to Australia 😵‍💫)

Personally, I hope the matter lands in the Minister’s favour (ie Novak’s visa is denied). There’s clearly something wrong with the paperwork he needed to provide to prove either vaccination or a *valid* medical exemption under the federal guidelines. He can be granted the exemption to participate in a state government sponsored event (like the Australian Open) but it means nothing if you don’t meet the federal guidelines.

The advisory body on covid vaccines in Australia clearly warned the Victorian government and Tennis Australia that a prior infection of Covid does not in itself give a valid exemption from vaccine, only allows for the delaying of getting the vaccines. They removed it completely from the guidelines to avoid confusion before his exemption was granted by Tennis Australia, which appears to have not been keeping up to date with the change. The automatic granting of visas clearly state that Australian Border Force officials can, and do, check the validity of applications at a point of arrival (of course, what’s happened with the Czech player is a whole other issue - that’s wild how she was able to come through!) and if a visa is revoked then it’s bad news for the person. If Novak’s visa is properly cancelled, he’s barred from entering Australia for three years 😬

However, the court may use this weird section of the Migration Act that’s basically a catch all “discretionary” power (can’t remember the section off the top of my head lol), so who knows. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Regardless, that’s me today - working and having the case hearing on in the background… just need to get the fucking link to work haha

Legal side note: Israel/South Africa ICJ interim measures ruling

Sorry for the random side note, but already starting to see some tweets and stuff on Tumblr that's peeving me off to the nth degree about the ICJ orders today.

To put it simply, the International Court of Justice did not rule on whether Israel has, or is, committing genocide in the Gaza Strip against Palestinians.

The point of the hearings and orders was to decide whether any provisional measures should be in place to maintain the integrity of future hearings which will then decide whether Israel has, or is, committing genocide in line with the Genocide Convention. It ruled that it did need these provisional measures in place, as it is plausible that genocidal acts could be occurring, which needs to be further analysed and decided upon by the ICJ.

Think of it like criminal cases where the court or judge says that proceedings should pause while further evidence is collected from the crime scene, or further witnesses are called. It doesn't mean anything has been ruled one way or another - it's just to give some breathing space so that stronger cases on both sides can be developed.

The key takeaways from the orders (read here at paragraph 86) is that:

Israel should take all steps to stop the government and its military from committing types of genocidal acts. It's not a ceasefire - it can still undertake attacks in line with international humanitarian law, AKA the laws of armed conflict/laws of war.

Israel should take all steps to stop incitement of genocide. Israel has started some prosecutions for racial incitement and related offences, but it's also a sign to Netanyahu to tone down the rhetoric.

Israel needs to allow basic humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. Pretty self-explanatory...

Israel needs to preserve evidence for future hearings before the ICJ.

Israel needs to give a status update to the ICJ around end of February 2024 on what steps it has taken. From there, South Africa will have time to respond, and then the ICJ may make further provisional measures. Highly likely we won't see more ICJ rulings until April or May at the earliest?

Personally, I don't have a clear-cut opinion one way or another about whether Israel is committing genocide. The simplest answer is a lawyer's favourite answer: it depends...

One thing is for sure: all signatory countries should be doing what they can to ensure that Israel respects the spirit of the provisional measures, particularly the ones that incitement of genocide and access of humanitarian aid. We need to fund more aid going into Gaza, and we need Israel to respect the ruling and ensure more aid actually passes through the Rafah crossing (looking at you, Egypt! Step up!)

Anyway, just trying to stop mis/disinformation spreading! ✌🏻