Victoria Police have issued a staggering amount of COVID fines since the start of the pandemic to people breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directions.
A total of 23,183 fines have been issued in the state since the coronavirus crisis began.
But less than a third have been paid.
“Fining people is not the best way to get people to comply with public health measures,” Greg Barnes from the Australian Lawyers Alliance said.
In the 24 hours leading up to Sunday, police issued 150 fines including to 19 people for failing to wear a face covering, 10 at vehicle checkpoints and 42 for curfew breaches.
One man was fined for driving 15kms to pick up bread for his daughter.
Police are now able to issue a $4957 fine for people trying to leave Melbourne and travel to regional areas without a valid reason.
This comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was accused of “double standards” for being heavy handed with some rule-breakers and not fining others.
The five households that breached restrictions and caused a COVID cluster in the Casey and Dandenong areas will not be fined.
“It just gives you a sense of how one person can infect many, many other people,” Andrews said on Sunday.
“If people are going to get fined for telling the truth in that circumstance, well then I think we know what happens – people won’t tell the truth”.
Source: 7news
