A court has handed down its decision on Covid-19 fines handed to organisers of a Byron Bay music event

A group of people who were dancing at the outdoor live music event sparked thousands of dollars in fines from licensing police because this breached Covid-19 restrictions.

Soul performer Lisa Hunt. Photo: Supplied

A North Coast musician who was slapped with $5000 in Covid-19 related fines after a Byron Bay event has had a win in Byron Bay Local Court.

Byron Bay singer Lisa Hunt arranged a series of live music vents under the banner Summerstage Byron Bay over a period of time from January 9 this year.

Licensing police gave her business $5000 in fines after they attended the end of the first day.

When the matter against Summer Stage Byron Bay Pty Ltd went before Byron Bay Local Court on Monday, a plea of guilty was entered by no conviction was recorded.

Ms Hunt received no fine in the end and was released on a conditional release order.

The matter was contested before Byron Bay Local Court on Monday. Picture: Liana Boss

Her lawyer, Mark Swivel, welcomed the outcome.

“It was a good decision,” Mr Swivel said.

“These laws are hugely important and compliance is hugely important but really, every effort was made by the organisers to comply with the spirit and the letter of the Covid restrictions.”

Mr Swivel said organisers paid for two user-pays police officers to be at the event, held at Red Devil Park, for the entire duration.

“Licensing police came along at the end of a four-hour event, for the last half hour,” Mr Swivel said.

“Around 40 people out of 323 were dancing in an open field.

“The organisers an the band tried to get the dancers to stop but there had been a breach of the Covid restrictions because people were standing and dancing and they should not have been.”

Lawyer Mark Swivel, who was representing event organiser Lisa Hunt, welcomed the court’s decision.

Mr Swivel said while there were “complex” aspects of the matter, magistrate Karen Stafford “recognised that Lisa Hunt, the event organiser, had taken the Covid restrictions seriously and the breach was at the lower end of the spectrum”.

He said it was “critical” to acknowledge none of the subsequent Summer Stage events attracted any “adverse action”.

The offence involved, failing to comply with a noticed direction in relation to the Covid-19 public health orders which were in place at the time, attracts a maximum penalty of $55,000.

Mr Swivel said this was a “serious offence” but in the circumstances, a “good common sense result” was reached.

“People need to understand how hard it is for police to enforce the Covid restrictions in every context,” he said.