A report led by UNSW researchers has highlighted the negative effect of COVID-19 fines.
A report by researchers at UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Crime, Law and Justice (CCLJ) has condemned the overuse of COVID-19 fines during the NSW Delta wave in 2021.The report was commissioned by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) and The Redfern Legal Centre (RLC).
The report concludes the NSW Government’s and Police Force’s handling of fines did more harm than good.
“The response criminalised noncompliance with public health measures, centred the police as the responsible compliance and enforcement agency, and foregrounded punishment in the form of large ‘on-the-spot’ fines – our report shows this approach was regrettable, and should be avoided in the future,” says lead author, UNSW Law & Justice’s Professor Luke McNamara from CCLJ.
“It was not inevitable that the COVID-19 pandemic would result in more than $56 million in fines for non-compliance with public health orders,” Prof. McNamara says.
“In this report, we wanted to investigate the factors that contributed to these outcomes, and recommend a way forward.”
The authors show how NSW residents found themselves in the middle of a phenomenon that had many of the characteristics of a law and order crisis.
“Individuals were effectively criminalised for behaviours that would never previously have brought them into contact with the police or state-sanctioned punishment,” Prof. McNamara says.
Referencing Revenue NSW data, the report highlights that as at 1 October 2022, more than $15 million in fines had been unpaid and were categorised as outstanding.
“This is the first of two main consequences that have emerged from the issuing of these fines – debt that continues to have punitive effects on people’s lives,” Prof. McNamara says.
“The second consequence are damaged police-community relations in those parts of the state that experienced the most intense forms of policing and penalty notice issuance.
“The actions taken by lawmakers to criminalise non-compliance with COVID-19 fines lacked consideration, and as a result communities were punished, rather than educated.”
