Police have dished out hefty fines to two men who allegedly travelled nearly 350 kilometres to Griffith in the middle of lockdown to visit friends and go shopping.
According to police, the 28-year-old man from Euston, NSW and the 52-year-old man from Craigieburn, Victoria spent a week working on farms in Euston before driving three-and-a-half hours to Griffith on Sunday.
A seven-day lockdown was put in place across NSW on Saturday including statewide stay at home orders.
The two men stayed in a Griffith motel on Sunday night and were approached by police at 3pm on Monday at Griffith Airport, where they were speaking to rental car staff.
Police said the two men advised they had driven to Griffith to "visit friends and do some shopping".
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Police informed the men that visiting friends is not a reasonable excuse to breach public health orders and issued them each with individual $1000 fines.
The men were directed to leave Griffith and organised to return to Euston.
NSW Police launched 'Operation Stay at Home' across the state on Monday and Murrumbidgee Police have spent the week enforcing compliance of the lockdown.
Harsher fines have been put in place for breaching public health orders, including:
- $5000 on the spot fine for breaching self-isolation rules
- $5000 on the spot fine for lying to a contact tracer
- $3000 on the spot fine for breaching rules around entry into regional NSW
- $3000 on the spot fine for breaching the two person outdoor exercise/recreation rule (excluding household members)
There is also a $1000 fine for breach of a public health order and a $500 fine for adults failing to wear a mask.
Monty Jacka
Monty is a journalist at The Daily Advertiser in Wagga. He can be reached at m.jacka@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Monty is a journalist at The Daily Advertiser in Wagga. He can be reached at m.jacka@austcommunitymedia.com.au
