NSW government suggested children as young as 10 could work off $1,000 Covid fines

Roughly 3,000 Covid fines have been issued to children aged 10-17 in NSW, most commonly for failing to comply with a direction under the public health act, and usually for amounts of $1,000.

The state government had privately flagged its intention to use WDOs earlier this year, after an alliance of legal groups, including Community Legal Centres NSW, wrote to the premier, calling for Covid fines to be withdrawn for children aged 10-17.

The legal groups called for the children to be issued cautions instead and warned the fines were disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities. Children had little capacity to pay or understand the enforcements system, the groups warned.

He also suggested children could be put on extended payment plans or work orders to help them pay off the debt.

Community Legal Centres NSW executive director Katrina Ironside questioned what child, particularly children from areas of socio-economic disadvantage, would have the financial means to pay off such a fine, or the capacity to understand the enforcement system.

Data released by the Redfern Legal Centre last year showed fines worth $2.1m have been issued to 2,844 children aged 10-17 since the middle of last year.

More than half the children received a fine of $1,000. Seventeen children were fined $5,000 and 39 were fined $3,000.

The state government has so far resisted any call to stop its enforcement of Covid fines. For both adults and children, roughly 45,000 fines issued in 2021-22 are now overdue, according to NSW government data. A host of legal services dealing with public health order breach cases have warned the fines have in many cases been issued erroneously, are not being tested properly in internal review processes, or are being enforced unfairly.

On Wednesday, the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW warned that Indigenous Australians were having their driving licences cancelled as part of the enforcement of Covid fines.

Additional data released by the Redfern Legal Centre showed that, for the 47,000 fines issued in July, August, and September last year, the local government areas with the largest volume of fines per capita were Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Moree Plains, Walgett, Bourke and Gunnedah. Those LGAs all have significant Indigenous populations.

It also considered non-financial resolutions in some cases, a spokesperson said.