Samantha Lee, a solicitor with Redfern Legal Centre discusses, “what we see happen is that those who have been policed before COVID-19 are just policed more and there are communities within Australia and New South Wales that are heavily policed, including people from Indigenous backgrounds”
“The highest rates in NSW were recorded in the Eastern suburbs, though few fines were handed out to those in Bondi in comparison to Mount Druitt…the fines themselves, although they might have a deterrent effect on some, create more of a disadvantage to those who are already vulnerable”
“Police are not allowed to discriminate, they need to apply discrimination laws like any other government body…with the COVID-19 fines in particular, there is wide discretion on police, and this means that it is up to the individual police officer to make these very deep and wide decisions about who they are and are not going to fine”
Listen to the full podcast on Spotify (Backchat FBI Radio, 2 October 2020)
