Tileah Dobson reports for Sydney Sentinel
Operation Stay At Home was launched by NSW Police on 16 August 2021, with additional resources provided by the Australian Defence Force (ADF), significantly increasing police presence and patrols in Western and South-Western Sydney.
At the time, NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the state government was supporting NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller’s requests for stronger powers.
However, residents have been incorrectly fined by the police for either sitting on a bench to eat a kebab or sitting in a car. An open letter from over 100 members of the legal, academic and political professions has been sent to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, urging her government to rescind wrongly issued Covid fines.
Redfern Legal Centre, which spearheaded the letter, has provided assistance to numerous people who have been incorrectly issued fines ranging from $1,000 to $3,000. CEO of Redfern Legal Centre Joanna Shulman has spoken out against the injustice of these fines.
“It is clearly unjust to leave it up to individuals to appeal these wrongly issued Covid-19 fines. If a government body has made a mistake and not issued fines according to law, then it should rectify that mistake. People are already suffering from the economic impact of Covid-19 – and risk being plunged further into debt because of an error in administering the law,” Ms Shulman said.
Read the full article here. (Sydney Sentinel, 18 September 2021)
