Win for those who copped COVID-19 fines

People fined for breaching public health orders during the pandemic will be reimbursed in the nation's most populous state after the government received legal advice the infringements could be invalid. The NSW government will repay almost $5.5m worth of fines to those who have already paid and will withdraw unpaid ones, it announced on Tuesday. Thousands of fines were issued by NSW Police to members of the public who allegedly contravened health orders during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. In a landmark ruling in November 2022, Justice Dina Yehia said some fines were invalid because they did not include a sufficiently detailed description of the offences. Following this ruling, the NSW Commissioner of Fines Administration withdrew four types of public health order fines which were similar to the ones examined during the Supreme Court case. The 36,000 fines included unlawfully participating in an outdoor public gathering and failing to comply with the requirement of a public health order. According to the NSW Customer Service department's annual report, $36.3 million in fines were reversed in 2023 following the commissioner's decision. At the time the government said the remaining 23,539 fines would not be withdrawn as they had a "clearer explanation of the offences which they were issued for". But on Tuesday the remaining fines were officially withdrawn after the government received legal advice that the fines were still not detailed enough to be valid. "The COVID-19 public health orders were issued in a complex and rapidly changing environment and necessarily underwent frequent revisions to manage the evolving public health situation," Revenue NSW said in a statement. Commissioner of Fines Administration Scott Johnston said Revenue NSW would be reaching out to affected customers in the coming days. "Following representations made to the Commissioner of Police and myself concerning the validity of COVID-19 penalty notices, I have decided to exercise my statutory authority and withdraw these notices," he said. Customers who challenged their fines and have already had them finalised or remain before the courts will not be impacted by the withdrawal.