From visiting a friend for love tips to driving 300km to spend two hours at the beach talking on a phone: the bizarre ways the young and old are getting $1,000 COVID-19 fines
- New South Wales Police have issued 560 coronavirus fines in just four weeks
- Man, 26, from south-west Sydney fined $1,000 for seeking relationship advice
- An older man, 64, from Woollahra in Sydney's east fined for driving to a beach
- He had bizarrely made a 300km road journey north to chat on a mobile phone
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Australians young and older are copping $1,000 fines for disobeying coronavirus restrictions in bizarre ways.
During the past four weeks alone, the New South Wales Police Force has issued 560 penalty infringement notices for being out of home without a reasonable excuse.
A 26-year-old man from south-west Sydney is the latest to get busted, with police revealing he had 'told officers he was going to see a friend for relationship advice'.
Australians young and older are copping $1,000 fines for disobeying coronavirus restrictions in bizarre ways. A 26-year-old man from south-west Sydney is the latest to get busted, with police revealing he had 'told officers he was going to see a friend for relationship advice'. Pictured is a NSW Police officer pulling over a P-plate driver in Sydney
The resident of Heckenberg was given a $1,000 fine, 10 minutes after he had disobeyed a formal warning from the Liverpool area command to go home.
At the other end of the age spectrum, a 64-year-old man from Woollahra, in Sydney's east, was found almost 300km at Boomerang Beach, near Forster, on the state's mid-north coast.
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Asked why he was there, he allegedly told police 'he had been on the beach for two hours using his mobile phone'.
Last week, a 41-year-old man from Bathurst, in the state's central west, was fined $1,000 for taking a morning walk, even though exercise is allowed under tighter COVID-19 public health order restrictions that came into effect on March 31.
Despite that, the police argued 'he gave several different reasons for being out of his home'.
At the other end of the age spectrum, a 64-year-old man from Woollahra, in Sydney's east, was found almost 300km at Boomerang Beach, near Forster, on the state's mid-north coast. Pictured is a quiet road in central Sydney on March 31
Under stage three restrictions in NSW, gatherings are restricted to no more than two people except for members of someone's immediate household.
Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons, including for food, work or education, exercise and medical care or compassionate needs.
Disobeying a COVID-19 rule incurs a $1,000 fine in NSW, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
In Queensland it's $1,334.50, in Victoria it's $1,652 and in the Northern Territory, $1,099.
Fines across Australia are a controversial issue, considering people are being penalised even for obeying strict rules to remain 1.5 metres apart in public.
In Victoria, the state's deputy commissioner Shane Patton has promised to review every fine, after police interrupted a funeral despite mourners adhering to the 10-person rule.
'I will review every one of those personally to ensure they have been appropriately issued and that common sense is being applied,' he said on Tuesday.
Victorian police last week dropped a $1,652 fine handed out to 17-year-old learner driver Hunter Reynolds, who was receiving driving lessons from her mother Sharee, about 30km from their Hampton home, in Melbourne's south-east.
