NSW government to appeal landmark court ruling on searches at music festivals

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The New South Wales government is defending its move to appeal a court decision on strip searches at music festivals. The supreme court last month ruled police unlawfully strip-searched Raya Meredith at a festival in Byron Bay awarding her more than 90-thousand-dollars in damages. She had been the lead plaintiff in a class action which could result in thousands of others being compensated if they were searched in similar circumstances.

Transcript

00:00Police have made a decision and we support it that this is still an important measure

00:06to keep people safe and I realise that that doesn't mean it happens without rules and

00:11regulations in place, it doesn't mean that it happens without guidelines, it doesn't

00:15mean that it happens without every police officer who's involved in those searches undertaking

00:19comprehensive training in line with the Lex recommendation to the New South Wales Police.

00:24Now we accept the court's decision but police are caught in a difficult position where drugs

00:28are still illegal, they're not legal, particularly the supply of drugs at music festivals and

00:34they've got a responsibility to keep people safe.

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