NSW Police increase fines for mask non-compliance as second Sydney protest looms

NSW residents who breach public health orders will be hit with whopping fines after police announced a huge increase to penalty infringement notices.

Police have been handed extra powers to combat Sydney’s rising coronavirus outbreak. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced fines for not wearing a mask will more than double as authorities grapple with Sydney’s growing Covid-19 outbreak.

Anyone caught not wearing a mask across the state will be pinged $500, Ms Berejiklian said, as NSW Police were handed greater powers to close down business, construction sites and other premises not complying with health orders.

Mask wearing is now mandatory whenever people leave the house in the eight Sydney local government areas under tighter controls in the city’s west and southwest.

“State-wide, it’s clear when you need to wear a mask and if you don’t, you will be penalised and they’ll go up from $200 to $500 to allow that extra level of and that extra layer of deterrence,” she said.

“If you’re in a local government area of concern - and at the moment there are eight of them - you need to make sure you wear a mask now at all times. If you step foot outside your household, you need to wear a mask at all times. It doesn’t matter where it is.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced greater police powers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

The areas of concern are Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said on Thursday he had requested greater powers from the government and promised that thousands of extra police would be on the streets of Sydney.

“The powers particularly will focus on those people who are not doing the right thing,” he said.

“The power for me to close premises and public places will focus on the businesses who are doing the wrong thing.

“These new powers, the additional police into these areas, is about getting us out of lockdown sooner. So you can expect to see more police on the ground.”

Police Minister David Elliott said people complying with health orders have “had a gutful” of others doing the wrong thing.

Mr Elliott said he hoped to be able to lift the new powers as soon as possible but that they would play a crucial role in bringing case numbers under control.

NSW Police Officers and Riot Squad officers try to disperse protestors in the CBD during a protest to rally for freedom of speech, movement, choice, assembly, and Health in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

“The NSW government and the NSW Police detest the fact that we’ve had to increase these penalties and provide extra power to the police force,” he said.

“It is certainly not something that we want to do and it is, in fact, something that we cannot wait to shred.

“These powers, these health orders, these restrictions are something that government cannot get rid of quick enough.

“But it’s quite clear from the overwhelming number of people that are doing the right thing, that same overwhelming number of people have had a gutful of their fellow residents doing the wrong thing and that’s evident by the fact that we are now getting tens of thousands of people reporting breaches through Crime Stoppers.”

Reports on social media indicate a second anti-lockdown rally has been planned for Sydney’s CBD following on from 3500 people staging a protest last weekend.

More to come.