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The NSW Government has withdrawn all Covid fines issued during the pandemic and will refund Australians who made full or partial payments.
While public health orders were in effect following the Covid outbreak in 2020, around 60,000 penalty notices were issued for alleged failures to comply with government orders.
Covid fines in NSW amount to over $50 million, with this latest win seeing around 5.5 million in fines cancelled. In 2022, The NSW Government lost their first case against lawyers, and were forced to cancel around half of the fines issued, now two years later, the matter is finally put to rest.
Many of these alleged offences were absurd and are embarrassing to the government of Australia. One man was fined $1,000 for taking a solo run on the beach, attendees at a private birthday party were fined $26,000, a couple travelling to their holiday home outside of Melbourne were turned back and fined, a homeless woman was fined $3,000 for trying to leave Sydney, and some 14-year-old children were also fined for playing outside.
These examples are a few shameful examples of the government's reaction to a virus that, apparently, is still at large but, for some surprising reason, is not deemed a risk anymore despite this current strain being 'infinitely' more transmissible than the first.
While the NSW Government was forced to cancel unlawful fines, other states are still pursing fines and stand behind actions taken during pandemic times. Queensland is still pursuing $7.5 million in fines through collection agencies, Victoria, which had some of the strictest Covid measures in the world, is desperately pursing fines though most people still refuse to pay. The Government has been forced to provide 'discounts,' sometimes even reducing the fine by up to 50%. Western Australia and South Australia have also not reversed their position.
This latest win in New South Wales is a small step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and we hope to see similar results in other states.
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