Fines in place for check-in breaches

Victorian businesses found intentionally flouting Victorian Chief Health Officer rules – such as the requirement to use QR code systems – will face new $1652 on-the-spot fines.

Venues and facilities are required to maintain an electronic record-keeping system for all visitors – critical for ensuring quick contact tracing in the event of new coronavirus cases.

During the State Government’s threeweek COVID-SAFE blitz in April, authorities checked more than 4000 hospitality and retail businesses for compliance across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

They issued more than 165 enforcement notices throughout the operation and a further 300 verbal warnings, with common issues including failure to use QR codes, no COVIDSAFE plan and no density quotient signs.

Latest enforcement checks identified 37 percent of visited businesses as non-compliant with QR code check-in rules.

The new on-the-spot fine allows authorised officers to issue an immediate penalty to deter businesses from intentionally ignoring the rules.

The government has confirmed authorised officers will be ‘out and about’ throughout May and June, targeting compliance with record-keeping and QR code requirements.

As well as a fine, businesses breaching the rules will receive an improvement notice, triggering a follow-up visit from authorities.

Repeated breaches might lead to further $9913 fines and businesses might be prosecuted in court for ‘continued, blatant or wilful non-compliance with the rules’.

The new fine bolsters a mandatory switch to the free State Government QR code service through a Service Victoria app from May 28.

More than 91,000 Victorian organisations have signed up for the free government QR code service across 125,000 different locations – with more than 21.5-million check-ins – an average of 280,000 a day.