Top judge uses outrageous loophole to leave Covid-ravaged Sydney with his wife for a ski trip and stay in exclusive lodge in Thredbo
- District Court judge Chris Hoy and wife Phoebe escaped Sydney for Thredbo
- They served a 14-day quarantine period in their Shoalhaven holiday house
- Under public health orders, people are permitted to 'move between residences'
- The Hoys said they followed the rules, though locals in Thredbo are unhappy
NSW District Court Judge Chris Hoy, SC, and his wife, Phoebe, had left the city behind for an exclusive ski lodge at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains
A judge and his wife who travelled out of locked-down Sydney for a ski resort holiday has again put the spotlight on loopholes in NSW Covid rules.
Despite Greater Sydney remaining in an extended lockdown, NSW District Court Judge Chris Hoy, SC, and his wife, Phoebe, had left the city behind for an exclusive ski lodge at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
The couple had reportedly complied with Covid restrictions by first isolating for 14 days at their holiday house in the Shoalhaven on the NSW south coast, before heading onto Thredbo.
'We’re totally compliant,' Mrs Hoy said.
News of their trip comes as outrage continues over the journey of Zoran Radovanovic, who left Sydney to visit multiple locations with his two children in the Northern Rivers region of NSW to look at real estate while Covid positive.
Phoebe Joy told the Sydney Morning Herald she and her husband had fully complied with the NSW public health orders
Radovanovic is said to have used a loophole in the public health orders that considers a person inspecting a potential new residence as a reasonable excuse for travelling out of Sydney.
Mr Radovanovic was yesterday charged with breaching NSW public health orders and will appear in court in September.
While Sydney residents are not permitted to leave the city for a holiday under the orders, Mr and Mrs Hoy took advantage of a clause that allows people to move between different places of residence.
This allowed them to travel 200km south to their holiday house in the Shoalhaven and begin the mandated quarantine period.
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'They said after 14 days of isolation you’re free to move around,' Mrs Hoy said while defending their trip.
At the end of the quarantine period the couple took a Covid test requested by the ski lodge before travelling to Thredbo.
The Herald reported it had been contacted by a number of locals upset with people from Sydney travelling to the area via second residences.
The Joys arrived at an exclusive ski lodge in Thredbo after serving a 14-day isolation period at their holiday house at Shoalhaven on the NSW south coast
Police patrol Bondi Beach as Sydney endures its seventh week of lockdown
Zoran Radovanovic took advantage of a loophole in the order to leave Sydney with his two children and visit multiple locations in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, including Byron Bay (above) to look at real estate
Radovanovic's trip sent four northern NSW LGAs, including the Byron township (above), into a week-long lockdown
The loophole allowing people to travel to second residence is one of a number of exemptions expected to be junked from NSW public health orders after a crisis meeting of the NSW Cabinet yesterday.
The changes are expected to be introduced before the end of the week.
In late July a family of four from Blacktown in Sydney was issued two penalty infringement notices, fined $2000 and sent home when they breached health orders by travelling to Thredbo on Saturday, July 24th.
Earlier this week NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged people not to travel between residence 'for the sake of it'.
'Choose the property you are living in and stay there,' he said.
The stay-at-home orders in NSW mean residents in locked-down areas are not permitted to leave home unless they have a reasonable excuse to do so, including leaving for essential work, education or medical reasons, and shopping and exercise within 10km of home.
The rules also list 'other reasonable excuses', one of which is 'move to a new place of residence, or between your different places of residence'.
The overhaul of the rules comes as 6.6million NSW residents, or 80 per cent of the state, is now in lockdown and 344 new locally acquired cases were announced on Wednesday.
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