NSW government admits unlawful strip search on woman in music festival class action suit
A big admission has been made after a woman was strip searched for 30 minutes at the iconic Splendour in the Grass music festival.
The NSW government has admitted that police officers unlawfully strip searched a Splendour in the Grass festival attendee.
The shock admission was lodged as part of an amended defence statement in a rolling class action lawsuit alleging widespread unlawful searches across NSW music festivals.
The suit, brought by Slater and Gordon and launched in 2022, alleges the searches may have impacted thousands of festival attendees, but the government’s admission relates only to the lead plaintiff’s claim she was unlawfully strip searched at the 2018 Splendour festival at Byron Bay.
The government accepts the police officers who conducted the 30-minute search “did not have reasonable grounds to suspect that the strip searches were necessary for the purposes of the search”.
It also accepts “the strip searches were conducted by police officers without compliance with section 34A (law enforcement powers and responsibilities act) in that the police officers did not carry out the strip searches with the plaintiff’s … consent”.
The lead plaintiff and the police officer who searched her were both females, the court documents state.
The female officer inspected the plaintiff’s entire naked body and instructed her to pull out a tampon.
A male officer walked in on the search while the lead plaintiff was naked, the court documents state.
No drugs or prohibited items were found on the plaintiff.
Slater and Gordon lawyer Rory Walsh said his client had welcomed the “long overdue admission” of wrongdoing.
“Making this admission weeks out from the trial has meant that the representative plaintiff has had the prospect of being cross-examined as to her experience of being strip searched hanging over her head for the last two and half years,” he said.
“It should not have taken this long for the NSW Police to admit to the truth of what happened to the plaintiff, but we are pleased that she has finally been believed.”
But while acknowledging wrongdoing in the case of the lead plaintiff, the government disputes the wider claims from the class action that police officers illegally searched thousands of other festivalgoers.
It also denies the police officers in the lead plaintiff’s case were employed by NSW Police at the time of the searches.
A trial in the case is booked for May at the NSW Supreme Court.
“The strip searches which the plaintiff was subjected to is now conceded to not only being without a lawful basis but also failing to comply with safeguards for the exercise of police searching powers,” Mr Walsh said.
Slater and Gordon will argue the strip search of the lead plaintiff was justified by the same powers that the police relied on to strip search thousands of other festival attendees.
“The lawfulness of those searches will be the focus of evidence in the trial of the class action due to commence on May 5,” Mr Walsh said.
Redfern Legal Centre supervising solicitor Sam Lee said festival attendees had been “humiliated and intimidated” by strip searches for decades.
“This class action is about securing justice for those individuals and ensuring we put an end to these invasive and unlawful practices,” she said.
“This isn’t just about music festivals. It’s about the rights of everyone and the need for police to follow the law. Strip searches should never have been allowed to become routine practice.”
NSW Police has been contacted for a response.
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