The issue of whether fines will be dealt to individual tourists on board a trip to Dubbo organised by a travel company that flouted public health orders is part of an investigation into the incident, a senior NSW police officer has revealed.
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Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys has also countenanced the possibility the circumstances could lead police to decide "the infringement notice to the company will be sufficient".
The tour operator was fined $5000 after trying to proceed with a visit to Taronga Western Plains Zoo on Monday, having on buses at least 76 people who were not permitted to travel outside Greater Sydney.
The group arrived at the attraction but zoo staff refused to allow the travellers off the buses and police were called.
On Wednesday the investigation continued, and when attending a daily COVID-19 update to media, Deputy Commissioner Worboys addressed the matter of whether individuals on the tour would receive penalty infringement notices (PINs).
"There was a discussion about that very aspect of the investigation this morning," he said.
"If you look at the circumstances where those people hopped on that bus prior to the public health order, and were essentially in the custody of that company, to actually then have those people make conscious decisions to hop off that bus, grab their luggage and find their own way back to Sydney, I think where we'll arrive at in the discussion is that the infringement notice to the company will be sufficient."
Earlier the deputy commissioner, state emergency operations controller, reiterated that police would be out and about making sure there was compliance with the public health orders.
He said people in the Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions, in lockdown until July 9, must not travel to regional areas.
"What I also want to make very clear is police right across country NSW are very much around people taking holidays and moving into country NSW for that purpose," he said.
"There is, the public health order is very clear in this regard and what we want is for people to adhere to that, not move into country NSW on a holiday, or try to disguise that holiday with some other business.
What we've found is people right across country NSW are ever willing to see who was in their community, to dob those people in through Crime Stoppers, and police will take action.
- Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys
"What we've found is people right across country NSW are ever willing to see who was in their community, to dob those people in through Crime Stoppers, and police will take action...
"In normal times, country people would welcome visitors to their area, but this is not normal times.
"We want people to make sure they look after their own safety, that they look after the safety of not just people in Sydney, but right across this state."
Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
