From Monday, NSW Police, including the riot squad accompanied by 500 more Defence Force officers, will enforce new public health offences and increased penalties for breaches. The on-the-spot fine for breaching self-isolation orders has risen from $1000 to $5000, while breaching the two-person outdoor exercise rule has increased from $1000 to $3000.
The new fines include $5000 for lying to contact tracers and $3000 for breaching rules around entry into regional areas.
It is no doubt a time of tremendous public health concern, but will such fines help or hinder the attempt to curtail the spread of COVID-19? And will they have an inequitable impact on people who are already struggling?
Penalty notices disproportionately punish people of low financial means because fines are not relative to a person’s income. The unemployed or those in precarious employment may have to choose between paying the fine and paying rent. And these bigger fines, perversely, might also make vulnerable people less likely to co-operate with authorities – perhaps, most worryingly, contact tracers – out of fear of being penalised.
Read the full opinion piece (Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 2021)
Also published in The Age (16 August 2021)
