The health and safety of all residents was the highest priority of the NSW Government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Redfern Legal Centre has challenged penalty notices issued for contraventions of COVID-19 Public Health Orders on the technical basis that the notices do not provide a sufficiently detailed description of the offence committed and are therefore invalid.
The Commissioner of Fines Administration is able to independently review or withdraw penalty notices. In this case, he has decided to exercise his statutory power to withdraw two types of Public Health Order fines:
- ‘Fail to comply with noticed direction in relation section 7/8/9 – COVID-19’ – Individual.
- ‘Fail to comply with noticed direction in relation section 7/8/9 – COVID-19’ – Company.
This decision does not mean the offences were not committed. A total of 33,121 fines will be withdrawn, which is around half of the total number of 62,138 COVID-19 related fines issued.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. They are not affected by this decision.
Where fines are withdrawn, all sanctions, including driver licence restrictions or garnishee order activity will be stopped.
Where a fine has been withdrawn and a customer has made a payment – either in part or in full – Revenue NSW will make contact to arrange a refund or credit the payment towards other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.
