A fresh case filed in the Supreme Court of New South Wales could result in the remaining 29,017 fines issued for alleged failures to comply with public health orders ostensibly to protect against the spread of COVID-19 declared invalid.
The story so far
In July 2022, Redfern Legal Centre filed proceedings against Revenue NSW in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of COVID fines issued to three people on the basis they were defective as they failed to comply with the Fines Act 1996 by not specifying the particulars of the allegations; in other words, by not sufficiently setting out the details of the alleged COVID breaches.
Revenue NSW agreed to withdraw one of those fines but the other two proceeded to hearing, with the court ultimately ruling in a judgment of 29 November 2022 that the fines were indeed invalid due to insufficient particularisation.
