We call on the NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet to halt the enforcement of COVID-19 fines and replace the fines with a caution.

According to statistics obtained by Redfern Legal Centre from Revenue NSW:

·        Nearly 62,000 COVID fines totalling $56.4 million were issued by police from March 2020 to April 2022

·        The majority of fines were for $1,000, but fines for $3,000 and $5,000 were issued at the height of the lockdown in 2021

·        Three out of four COVID-19 fines are overdue and at enforcement order stage.

The public health orders for gatherings CHANGED OVER 70 TIMES during the height of the pandemic. The complexity and rapid amendments to the orders made it hard for people to understand and extremely difficult for NSW Police to apply the law correctly.  Many mistakes were made. 

Challenging a COVID-19 fine in Court is expensive, time consuming and runs the risk of a criminal conviction.  We believe urgent action is required to prevent significant hardship and injustice as well as major disruption to the justice system. With many fines now at enforcement order stage people face the risk of having their possessions seized, money taken from their bank accounts, car registrations cancelled and/or their driver’s licences suspended.  

As the cost of living goes up and wages stagnate, many are already struggling. It is of no benefit to the community to chase payment of fines that people either can't afford or where the fine was not issued according to law or in circumstances that were extremely confusing. 

 Further details can be found at https://rlc.org.au/rlc-media-42-million-unpaid-covid-fines-after-lockdown-blitz