Fine line between law and stupidity KAREN MATTHEWS

LOOK out Geelong! Vicpol has released its drones to catch out those illegally celebrating the AFL Grand Final.

God forbid you should take part in a socially distanced and sanitised-to-the-point-ofextinction gathering of more than 10 people, just to cheer on your team through sweaty face masks.

According to Victoria’s Assistant Police Commissioner Luke (“bat s..t crazy”) Cornelius, who once eloquently described his feeling of having to deal with demonstrators as being “like a dog returning to eat its own vomit”, air and drone units will be out in force this weekend to catch out rule breakers “from Geelong to Richmond”.

And, surprise surprise, anyone found deliberately breaching restrictions can expect to receive a fine! And yes, that even includes those who dare to toast the premiership on the nature strip outside their home.

So much for those poor sods in Melbourne who planned to celebrate with neighbours by raising glasses on opposite sides of their street.

With the rules constantly changing and confusion now the norm, with fines for this and fines for that, it does make you wonder just how many of the 20,000 or so Victorians slapped with COVID fines will ever actually pay them.

With records showing more than $28m in fines handed out as of August 24 and only 845 having paid up, my guess is the greater majority will opt to challenge the validity of their fines in court.

And good luck to them.

While there are those who certainly deserved to be fined, there were many more who copped fines that at best were questionable and, at worst, totally unjustified, bordering on ridiculous.

Now, for those who plan to challenge their fine in court, best you get some legal advice.

If you can’t afford a lawyer you can apply to Victoria Legal Aid for representation. That’s what they are there for.

Having spent years sitting in courtrooms listening to the pleas of fine dodgers and seeing the large majority either having their fines cut considerably or wiped altogether, I reckon most COVID fine objectors would, at least, be in with a fighting chance.

For a start there are a number of reasons that may stand you in good stead.

One is being able to prove “exceptional circumstances”, in that “you could not understand” or “could not follow directions”.

Another, more widely used, is being able to prove “special circumstances”, which includes mental illness, intellectual disability, drug addiction, family violence issues or homelessness.

Did somebody say mental illness? And could this deterioration in mental health possibly have been caused by months of continual lockdowns, confusion and uncertainty, isolation, loneliness, loss of income and being banned from visiting dying loved ones in nursing homes/ hospitals, unable to see grandchildren or other family?

You don’t need a degree in psychiatry to tell you the answer to that one.

In fact, medical experts have repeatedly expressed their concerns over the skyrocketing number of people seeking help for mental health issues since the start of the pandemic.

On another note, let’s not forget the effect on Victoria’s court system if hundreds of thousands of people do decide (which is their right) to challenge their matters in court.

Imagine the backlog in cases and the time and enormous cost of having each case heard and determined individually on its own merits.

The cost could, in the long term, end up costing the Victorian government (and taxpayer) far more than the $28m it hoped to claw back in revenue.

Only time will tell.

In the meantime, consider it just another “fine” mess!