He later received a $1000 fine in the mail for “Fail to comply with noticed direction in relation to section 7/8/9 - COVID-19”,despite the state government clarifying that sitting in a park was a permissible form of outdoor recreation.
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The same month,former police commissioner Mick Fullerhad told officers he would not hold them to account for wrongly issuing infringements.
Pank challenged the fine twice,in September 2021 and May 2022,but Revenue NSW rejected both appeals and told him the fine stands. In its first refusal,the agency said Pank had been advised by police that he should not be away from his home without a reasonable excuse.
In the second refusal,it was claimed that Pank breached the public health order because he crossed into the City of Sydney local government area from the Inner West,despite living less than a kilometre from the park.
At the time,the public health orders allowed outdoor recreation to be pursued within ten kilometres of a person’s home,regardless of if that crossed into another local government area.
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Pank said he felt annoyed and angry to receive the fine and hoped that,by being a plaintiff in the case,he would help those in a worse position than himself who weren’t able to pay their fine.
He said he has been issued with an enforcement order and is now facing having his driver’s licence cancelled,his wages garnished,or his possessions repossessed.
“It’s all quite scary,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair.”
The majority of fines were issued in August and September 2021,meaning they are now up to the enforcement stage.
More than 9500 people have already paid fines issued between July 2020 and April 2022,totalling $8.4 million. Thousands of people requested a review,with Revenue NSW withdrawing the penalty in 12.6 per cent of cases.
Between July and October last year,residents of Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west were hit with the highest number of COVID-19 fines in the state,with 1471 penalty notices costing $1,349,380.
They were closely followed by Liverpool,with 1,238 fines attracting penalties of $1,123,080,and Blacktown,with 798 fines worth $729,700.
According to statistics released under a Government Information (Public Access) request,2844 COVID fines were issued to children between July 1 and November 10 last year,the majority for “not comply with noticed direction re section 7/8/9,COVID-19”.
The children were issued fines totalling more than $1.5 million for this offence alone,with fines for all juvenile COVID-related offences worth a combined $2.079 million.
Lee said she supports public health and keeping the community safe,“but for these fines,we are of the view that the rule of law was not adhered to,and people were not given due process when it came to being fined”.
The case will be mentioned in court on July 19.
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