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.
Late last year, the state government was forced into an embarrassing backflip over its enforcement of Covid-related restrictions in 2020 and 2021, withdrawing 33,000 fines worth $30m.
The withdrawals were forced by a NSW supreme court case brought by the Redfern Legal Centre questioning the legality of the government’s enforcement.
The case prompted government lawyers to concede in November that infringement notices failed to provide enough detail to the recipient about what they were alleged to have done.
The court’s judgment, handed down on Thursday, said it was imperative that the offence was clearly and unambiguously specified in penalty notices.
Providing such information, the court ruled, was a minimum requirement under NSW law. Without it, recipients were left unable to find out what offence they were alleged to have committed or properly decide whether it should be disputed.
“How then were the plaintiffs to know what offence they had committed or to make an informed decision as to whether to pay the fine or elect to have the matter determined by a court?” Justice Dina Yehia said.
The supreme court proceedings, run as a test case by Redfern Legal Centre, initially focused on the treatment of three individuals who were fined during the pandemic. One of the plaintiffs was Rohan Pank, who was fined in August 2021 for sitting in a park 1km from his home while taking a short break from exercising.
Not long after the fine, the government classified what he’d been doing – sitting for relaxation – as an acceptable form of outdoor recreation. Pank challenged the fine twice and received wildly different reasons as to why he had committed an offence.
Almost immediately after filing a court challenge, Pank’s fine was withdrawn, something he described at the time as “ridiculous”.
Despite the ruling, the NSW government has declined to withdraw another 29,017 other Covid-19 fines.
Samantha Lee, Redfern Legal Centre’s police accountability solicitor, said Thursday’s ruling may also affect those remaining fines.
“This judgment calls into disrepute all remaining Covid-19 fines because the fines do not meet the legal requirement to be a valid penalty notice,” she said.
“The government must now do the right thing and withdraw all Covid-19 fines that were issued, including withdrawing those offences for which individuals elected to take to court, any work and development orders and reimburse fines already paid.”
The government’s handling of Covid fine enforcement has attracted significant scrutiny.
In mid-2022, the Guardian revealed the state government had privately suggested children as young as 10 could be placed in an unpaid work program or on “extended payment plans” to help them pay Covid fines.
The Guardian also revealed that more than 900 people who were placed on work orders, including children, were among the 33,000 fines later found to have been issued invalidly.
