News and Events

There are calls for the New South Wales government to withdraw the more than 29,000 outstanding COVID fines after a judgment from the Supreme Court.

After a declaratory judgement issued by the Supreme Court earlier this week, the government may need to accede to the pressure or face a tsunami of lawsuits by those unlawfully issued with Covid fines – whether or not those fines have been paid.

The New South Wales government is being urged to withdraw more than 29-thousand remaining COVID fines.

Samantha Lee, Redfern Legal Centre’s police accountability solicitor, speaks on ABC Drive about the recent NSW Supreme Court judgment on covid fines.

The New South Wales government has been urged to withdraw more than 29,000 remaining Covid-19 fines after the Supreme Court found fundamental flaws in the way they were issued.

A Supreme Court judgment could invalidate all Covid-19 fines after a state’s revenue department backed down on thousands of penalty notices.

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necessary for a fine to be valid, and calls into disrepute all the remaining 29,017 COVID-19 fines that have not been withdrawn.

A report by researchers at UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Crime, Law and Justice (CCLJ) has condemned the overuse of COVID-19 fines during the NSW Delta wave in 2021.The report was commissioned by Redfern Legal Centre (RLC), the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).

Data obtained by Redfern Legal Centre, via the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW), reflects a clear bias involved in the way that NSW police officers are applying personal searches.

Witness photos and videos can hold law enforcement to account. Two programs, Copwatch and Fair Play, support minority communities with using this method to address police misconduct safely and legally.