News and Events

Today, the second COVID Fine case brought by Redfern Legal Centre was back in the Supreme Court. 

Police in New South Wales are using force against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at a vastly disproportionate rate compared to non-Indigenous people.

Redfern Legal Centre has filed another NSW Supreme Court application seeking the withdrawal of a COVID fine on the grounds of invalidity. 33,000 COVID fines were withdrawn following the first Supreme Court case in late 2022, and 29,000 remain.

Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) have lodged a complaint against former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller and NSW Police over their heavy-handed approach to handing out more than 60,000 COVID-19 fines during the pandemic.

Tomorrow (25 May), the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) will examine the use of force by NSW Police, along with systemic issues related to the arrest and detention of children.

Today the NSW Supreme Court published its reasons in a test case about COVID-19 fines. The decision clarifies the requirements necessary for a fine to be valid, and calls into disrepute all the remaining 29,017 COVID-19 fines that have not been withdrawn.

The NSW Government’s ‘law and order’ response to the pandemic created significant fines debt and damaged community-police relations in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the state, according to a new UNSW Law School report. 

NSW Supreme Court the State of New South Wales conceded that the COVID-19 fines issued to the three plaintiffs are invalid and fail to meet the legal requirements under the Fines Act (NSW).

Latest NSW Police strip-search figures show that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people were still being subjected to strip searches, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and children disproportionately targeted.

Nearly 3,000 COVID-19 fines totalling just over $2.1 million dollars have been issued to children aged 10-17 years since 1 July last year, NSW police data reveals.