As the Berejiklian government moved to shut down state parliament on 24 March, it first passed emergency laws that include providing police with the power to issue on-the-spot fines in relation to breaches of any public health order passed during the pandemic.
After NSW health minister Brad Hazzard issued his 30 March public gathering and movement order, things began to heat up and reports began to filter in of the bizarre applications of these laws. There was the man who was fined $1,000 for eating a kebab on a public bench, while another was hit with an on-the-spot fine for falling asleep on one.
On 9 April, the Herald reported that a total of 151 COVID-19 related fines had been issued statewide. And while there seemed to be a dearth of fines handed out in Sydney’s wealthy east, those issues in the city’s less affluent southwest were noticeably greater.
Samantha Lee, solicitor at the Redfern Legal Centre’s policy accountability practice, has raised concerns over the discrepancies in how the new regulations are being applied, both in terms of geographical location, as well as around warnings being issued prior to fines.
“It’s a classic case of those who were already being policed, being policed more,” said Ms Lee.
Ms Lee has called on NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller to release any guidelines around how these laws are being enforced by officers in the field, as these should be ensuring consistency in application.
Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Ms Lee about her concerns regarding the transparency around COVID-19 regulations, her thoughts on having the police commissioner in charge of a health emergency, and the real danger that some of those powers could stick around post-pandemic.
Read the full interview here (Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 17 April 2020)
