The “fail to comply” fines will be scrapped after a successful challenge from the Redfern Legal Centre that, on a technical basis, they didn’t provide a sufficiently detailed description of the offence committed and are therefore invalid.
Police Minister Paul Toole defended the issuing of the fines and said he respected the judicial system and its decision, but the health orders were appropriate at the time.
“It was about saving lives, it was about keeping the community safe,” he said.
The Minister also defended police saying they were not overzealous in their issuing of fines, “they were following the health orders, it was a pandemic”.
A total of 33,121 fines will be withdrawn, which is around half of the total number of 62,138 COVID-19 related fines issued.
The remaining 29,017 COVID-19 fines will still be required to be paid if not already resolved.
Where a fine has been withdrawn and a customer has made a payment – either in part or in full – Revenue NSW will make contact to arrange a refund or credit the payment towards other outstanding debts.
