Victorian government under pressure to scrap Covid breach-related fines

Victoria’s Deputy Premier says the Attorney-General must decide whether to axe Covid fines as pressure mounts to scrap them.

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan says it’s up to the Attorney-General to determine if Victorians will be forced to pay outstanding Covid-related fines, following the cancellation of more than 33,000 fines in New South Wales on Tuesday.

It comes as legal authorities renewed calls for Covid health order infringements to be cancelled, with thousands of outstanding fines remaining in Victoria.

Over the course of lockdowns in Victoria, 40,843 fines were issued for Covid-related breaches and as of November 2021, just 8.6 per cent had been paid.

The infringements were issued to both individuals and businesses, with some businesses being slugged for between $5452 and $109,044 and individuals copping on-the-spot fines of up to $1817.

Speaking at the newly built Cobblebank station in Melbourne’s west on Wednesday, the Transport Infrastructure Minister declined to make any comments on the matter that could result in thousands of fines being thrown out.

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan declined to make any comments on the matter that could result in thousands of fines being thrown out. Picture: Wayne Taylor

“I’ve seen those reports but I’m afraid I don’t have any advice on what the attorney may or may not be looking at in this area, it’s a matter for the Attorney-General,” she said.

Ms Allan went on to suggest that the matter didn’t fall under her portfolio.

“This was a decision made by the New South Wales government, we’ll have to get some advice from a Victorian perspective,” she said.

When pushed on the situation, Ms Allan argued the government had to make some “challenging” and “difficult” decisions to put the health and safety of Victorians first.

“(We) had to support our healthcare system to continue to operate in a time we’ve never seen before and make sure that the healthcare workers go to work safely, (to) treat not just Covid patients but the rest of the community because hospitals are a busy place — pandemic or no pandemic,” she said.

Over the course of lockdowns in Victoria, 40,843 fines were issued for Covid-related breaches. Picture: Getty Images

NSW withdrew 33,121 fines after Redfern Legal Centre successfully argued two types of the issued fines were invalid, because the description of the offence was too vague.

Inner Melbourne Community Legal and Youthlaw has long since called for Victorian fines to be withdrawn.

“We call for the withdrawal of all Covid fines that were inappropriately issued or inadequately reviewed by Victoria Police,” they said in a statement.

“People in lower socio-economic areas were more likely to receive Covid-19 fines.

“The process of reviewing Covid-19 fines has also concerned community legal centres.

“We have seen people request their own internal review applications, which were ultimately refused.

“They were given no indication whether their circumstances had been properly considered.”

They said the NSW case highlights the inappropriateness of using punitive policing as a response to a public health crisis.

Tiffany Overall, Advocacy and Human Rights Officer at YouthLaw, said the community legal centre would be working hard to find similar clauses in Victorian law.

Covid infringements were issued to both individuals and businesses. Picture: Paul Jeffers

“NSW relied on the laws that require fines to have sufficient particulars and specifications of the offence, and it was found that the fines issued weren’t specific enough,” Ms Overall said.

“Victoria will need to look really closely at the implications of this decision and what it could mean for us.

“It’s hard to know without studying it carefully, but it’s likely there are commonalities between us and NSW – we know a vast majority of the fines received in Victoria weren’t necessarily adequately specifying the offence.”

The total number of Victorians that could get off the hook is unknown, but she said the stress of the fines was having a “crippling” impact on her clients – most of whom were already dealing with financial disadvantage.

“Looking at data of the most fined suburbs, most of them were some of the poorest areas or areas where there is a high proportion of homelessness,” Ms Overall said.

“Some of the individual fines were up to $5000, which makes them totally unaffordable to most people — but especially people already struggling.”

Ms Overall said some clients had received multiple $5000 fines, pushing them further into the margins.

“We call on the Victorian government to be proactive about this issue and withdraw the fines pre-emptively,” she said.