’Serious’ fines for people who lie to come to the North Coast from Sydney
Authorities say police will be checking the reasons for travel, and serious fines will apply for lying to get a permit.
Lismore
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A new permit system came into force today aimed at preventing the Covid outbreak spreading from Sydney to regional areas.
People can only leave Greater Sydney to travel to regional NSW for essential purposes, and from 12.01am, Saturday, they now must have a permit to do so.
While no new cases of Covid-19 had been reported on the Northern Rivers to 8pm on Thursday night, 642 new cases were recorded across the state.
Permits were just one of a range of measures introduced to stop the virus from spreading to areas that did not have any cases, and police said they would be strictly enforcing compliance.
NSW Commissioner Michael Fuller said police had been given additional powers to enforce public health orders, expressing frustration over people who continued to disobey the rules.
More than 800 infringement notices were issued in the state on Thursday, prompting sweeping changes, including an extended lockdown for Greater Sydney residents, as we all a curfew, and a permit system.
“The day of cautions is over,” Commissioner Fuller said. “We are not seeing compliance in the state.”
He said from today, it was an offence to leave Greater Sydney to go to regional NSW without a valid reason, and police would be enforcing the permit system.
He said eligible people could still travel without the permit if they were unable to get one, but police would be checking to ensure they had a valid reason to travel.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the permits made it easier for police, and travellers, to easily check if the reason for travel was valid, but warned people found lying to get a permit would face serious fines.
Mr Barilaro said he was confident the permits would protect regional NSW against the virus spreading from Sydney.
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