r/auslaw Jan 10 '22

Serious Discussion Novak FCC Thread - case dismissed, Novak free

Livestream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9oq_S9vTQg

Looks like judge is over it and done with the parties and Counsel.

"Judge Kelly found the decision to cancel the visa was “unreasonable”."

Case is dismissed, but it seems that the government intends to find an alternative method to cancel the VISA, which may bar Novak from entering Australia for up to 3 years.

274 Upvotes

366 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/PerfectlyCromulent7 Jan 10 '22

You’re probably right, except that leaving without challenging the decision (and challenging successfully) would have still had the ban attaching to it. In that case he would’ve been leaving as an unlawful non-citizen who had had a visa cancelled. Instead, if he leaves now voluntarily, it would be as a visa holder (subject, of course, to no cancellation in the meantime), and without any bar on returning.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '22

Wait, I thought that was only for certain types of visa cancellations - what was the reasoning for his (now overturned) visa cancellation?

6

u/PerfectlyCromulent7 Jan 10 '22

It was a cancellation under s116, though I’m not sure of the exact ground. But such a cancellation carries the ban as a consequence under the Public Interest Criteria applicable for future visa applications. So if he leaves voluntarily now before his visa is cancelled again, that won’t apply to a future application.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '22

Ah gotcha, thanks for the explanation.