People wait in a line at a Covid-19 testing station on the northern beaches in Sydney on December 21. Photo / AP
People wait in a line at a Covid-19 testing station on the northern beaches in Sydney on December 21. Photo / AP
A wedding venue in Sydney's west has been fined A$5000 ($5352) for allowing between 600 and 800 guests at a reception, New South Wales Police Minister David Elliott says.
Elliott said police were investigating the Fairfield wedding reception held on Saturday about 10km away from the concerning cluster linked toa bottle shop in Berala. The Berala cluster stood at 13 cases this morning.
Current NSW Health restrictions allow for a maximum of 300 guests, and that is under the one person per 4 sq m rule. The wedding reception had between 600 and 800 guests.
A security guard takes the temperature of a shopper at a mall in Sydney on January 3. Photo / AP
"The operator has been fined $5000 and I'm furious," Elliott told 2GB radio today.
"I was told the Fairfield local area command attended a wedding venue [that had] 700 people and has been fined $5000. It's infuriated me; it's not that way I wanted to spend my Monday morning, I can assure you.
"The operator, a 46-year-old man, did breach the Public Health Orders and it was such a high-level breach the police will ensure he gets the $5000 [fine]. He can challenge that and risk himself six months in jail."
Thousands of customers who may have been exposed at the BWS Berala store between December 22 and December 31 are being urged to get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.
"This isn't a dozen people that turned up unannounced, this is twice the amount of people that were allowed to attend that wedding reception in an area not far from Berala," Elliott told the Today show.
Thousands of people who shopped at the BWS store in Berala, Sydney have being told to isolate. Photo / News Corp Australia
"So, it is a time that western Sydney needs to be well and truly on its game when it comes to complying with Public Health Orders.
"It is not about the fines or the punishment, this is about compliance, and people need to realise the police are enforcing a law to keep them healthy.
"We don't want to go back into lockdown. That's why we have introduced these Public Health Orders and I'm very disappointed that the Fairfield police area command has had to go through that over the last 48 hours."
