This was published 1 year ago
Fines commissioner concedes that COVID fines in Supreme Court test case are invalid
By Georgina Mitchell
The NSW government has conceded that two COVID-19 fines being challenged in a Supreme Court test case are invalid, opening the door for more than 30,000 other people to have fines worth $30 million cancelled.
Redfern Legal Centre brought the case on behalf of three of its clients who received fines ranging from $1000 to $3000 during the 2021 public health lockdowns. One of the clients, Rohan Pank, had his fine for sitting in a park withdrawn after the case was filed.
Police patrol at Bondi to enforce COVID-19 restrictions in August 2021.Credit: Steven Siewert
It was set to be argued in the case that the offence description provided on the fine was so vague that it did not comply with legislation, which made the infringements invalid.
On Tuesday, Crown Advocate David Kell, SC, said his client – the Commissioner of Fines Administration – accepted that the two remaining fines did not sufficiently state or describe the offence, so did not meet the requirements of section 20 of the Fines Act.
Kell said his client consented to a declaration that the fines issued were invalid. However, he questioned if the court needed to make additional orders to halt enforcement of the fines and issue a refund.
He said it “may be taken as likely” that his client’s concession would have consequences for other penalty notices, but said other cases might have different factual circumstances.
Katherine Richardson, SC, appearing for the plaintiffs Brenden Beame and Teal Els, said Els had been fined $3000 for “unlawfully participating in an outdoor public gathering”.
She said Revenue NSW statistics showed at least 163 people had received the same fine, with 580 others receiving a fine with very similar wording.
“We would apprehend that it would be common ground that each of their penalty notices are invalid as well, because they’ve all got that offence description,” Richardson said.
She said it appeared that 32,648 fines were issued with the same invalid wording used in Beame’s case, which amounted to almost $33 million in fines.
“In all likelihood, every single one of those fines is invalid as well,” Richardson said.
Richardson requested that Justice Dina Yehia give detailed reasons in the case, to make it “absolutely plain” why the fines were invalid and allow members of the public to see if they were potentially entitled to a refund.
“It’s not a big ask, if you’re going to fine someone for an offence, to set out what the offence is in the notice,” Richardson said.
Justice Yehia will deliver her judgment next year.
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