News and Events

Australia’s largest state will withdraw or refund tens of thousands of fines issued during the COVID pandemic after government lawyers conceded on Tuesday that some fines were invalid in a test case brought by a legal advocacy group.

Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, is scrapping just under half of its COVID-related fines. The move comes after a court looked into three cases and found offenses were described too vaguely.

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).

The NSW government has conceded that two COVID-19 fines being challenged in a Supreme Court test case are invalid, opening the door for more than 30,000 other people to have fines worth $30 million cancelled.

From “illegal” birthday parties to suspicious fast-food orders, Aussies picked up a very unusual pastime during the Covid pandemic.

In 2018, Byron Bay police struck a teenager 18 times with a baton. Five years later courts are still deciding, was it “reasonable”?

First Nations people in Dubbo were subjected to the highest number of police strip searches in NSW over two year period.

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.

Redfern Legal Centre says $20,000 in fines issued is ‘unjust’ and ‘sets children up for failure’

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay argues for a review of the human rights impacts of Australia’s COVID-19 response