Venues named and shamed in southwestern Sydney COVID blitz
A one-day blitz on restaurants in a single suburb in southwestern Sydney has uncovered almost 100 COVID safety breaches. Inspectors visited 85 venues, issuing fines of up to $5000.
NSW
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Thousands of dollars in fines are being issued to restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs across Liverpool in Sydney’s southwest following one of the biggest COVID safety blitzes since the start of the pandemic.
Undertaken over one day last week in the wake of Jasmins1 restaurant being ordered to close after it failed to provide staffing and patronage records on schedule after a confirmed case, authorities swooped on other licensed venues in the area and found 94 breaches, including not asking people to sign in.
The largest fine of $5000 was issued to Kulcha House for not having a safety plan, not being registered as COVID-safe and not recording any patron sign-in details.
Al Barakeh Charcoal Chicken also copped a $5000 fine for having no safety plan, illegible patron sign-in details, and having tables and chairs spaced less than 1.5m apart.
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said authorities expected to issue more than 30 fines from the blitz, which would not be the last.
“It only takes one bad operator to set us back and we will continue to weed them out,” Mr Dominello said.
“We’ve all done such a great job to get where we are now, but this just shows there are some cowboys who still don’t get how important it is.
“This is a Team NSW moment and we all need to do our part as we head into summer to look after each other.”
The Wednesday blitz involved Liquor and Gaming, Health, Food Authority, Safe Work and Fair Trading inspectors visiting 85 venues in the area, with almost 100 breaches found.
Up-to-date safety plans were absent in 39 venues and 12 had no plan at all, meaning patrons did not even have to sign in.
Inspectors raised “record-keeping concerns” in 20 instances, with 13 venues not having a COVID-safety marshall.
Nine venues had “incomplete or illegible” patron sign-in records — one had failed to record any details since July — or were failing to digitise handwritten entries.
Another 13 venues were not registered as “COVID-safe” and there were social distancing concerns in seven.
At one venue, inspectors found no safety plan, no sign-in register, no records of patrons, and staff unaware of the public health order requirements in relation to being COVID-safe.
When questioned, inspectors claimed the staff “retreated” to the kitchen.
Other restaurants to be fined include Arkan Kebab House-Bakhtar Restaurant for not having a safety plan, not being registered as COVID-safe, having incomplete, illegible and not digitised patron sign-in details, no safety marshal and not having tables and chairs spaced less than 1.5m apart.
Chennai Kitchen was also fined for similar breaches, but also not recording any patron sign-in records.
Food Treasure cafe had no safety plan, no maintained or digitised sign-in records, and tables and chairs not adequately spaced. Bun Me Baguette had similar breaches.
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