The Guardian reports…
Lawyers believe hundreds of ‘unlawful’ police strip searches of patrons may have occurred at the festival
Lawyers have launched a class action investigation into what they believe could be hundreds of “unlawful” strip searches by New South Wales Police of patrons at the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival.
In May last year Guardian Austraelia revealed law firm Slater and Gordon and the Redfern Legal Centre had begun investigating the possibility of a class action against New South Wales police, alleging “systemic” misuse of strip searches in the state.
It came after concerns about the use of strip searches stemming from watchdog investigations, coroner’s reports and internal police documents. Now, more than a year later, the two firms have announced the class action will go ahead focused on police actions at Splendour in the Grass, one of the largest music festivals in Australia.
Slater and Gordon’s senior associate, Dr Ebony Birchall, said investigations carried out by the firms had uncovered what they say is evidence “hundreds of people who were searched by police at Splendour may have been subject to unlawful searches”.
“An unlawful police search is classified by law as an assault and gives rise to compensation,” she said.
The decision to focus the class action solely on police searches at Splendour in the Grass comes after an inquiry by the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) heard evidence of six children being subject to potentially unlawful searches at the music festival in 2018.
The evidence was heard during a public inquiry into strip searches, and included a 16-year-old girl was left fearful and in tears after she was forced to strip naked in front of police.
