In a significant development in the ongoing class action initiated by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and Redfern Legal Centre, the State of New South Wales has now admitted, on the eve of trial, that there was no lawful basis to strip search the representative plaintiff at a music festival.
The State have also admitted that in the course of the strip search the plaintiff was unlawfully directed to remove a tampon and that a male police officer walked in when she was undressed. The admission by the State include that the strip search of the plaintiff constituted an assault, false imprisonment and battery.
The damages to which the representative plaintiff is individually entitled will be one of the matters to be determined at the trial of the class action which is scheduled to commence on 5 May 2025.
In that trial, the State still however seeks to maintain that the search of thousands of other group members was lawful.
The class action, filed in July 2022, is directed against the state NSW in respect of the alleged unlawfulness of thousands of strip searches conducted by NSW Police at music festivals between July 2016 and 2022.
Slater and Gordon Practice Group Leader in Class Actions Rory Walsh said that while the firm welcomed the long overdue admission in relation to circumstances of her search, they intended to demonstrate at trial that the much criticised and widespread use of strip search powers, are in many instances similarly unlawful.
“After having denied and disputed her allegations for over two and half years, the State has, without any explanation, has now made an eleventh-hour admission as to the truth of the plaintiff’s complaint, but while still seeking to argue that the searches of other group members at music festivals were lawful.
“Making this admission weeks out from the trial has meant that the representative plaintiff has had the prospect of being cross examined as to her experience of being strip searched, hanging over her head for the last two and half years.
“It should not have taken this long for the NSW Police to admit to the truth of what happened to the plaintiff, but we are pleased that she has finally been believed.
“The strip searches which the plaintiff was subjected to, is now conceded to not only being without a lawful basis but also failing to comply with safeguards for the exercise of Police searching powers,” Mr Walsh said.
The strip searching of the plaintiff, was initially alleged to be justified by the same powers which the NSW Police have relied upon to strip search thousands of festival attendees.
“The lawfulness of those searches will be the focus of evidence in the trial of the class action due to commence on 5 May 2024.
“Over three thousand group members have registered with our firm to date in respect of this proceeding, and we encourage any other persons who were strip searched at music festivals in NSW to now contact our firm,” Mr Walsh said.
Redfern Legal Centre Supervising Solicitor Sam Lee said:
"This trial is an important step in holding NSW Police accountable for the degrading strip searches that thousands of festivalgoers were subjected to.
"For decades, people have been humiliated, intimidated and often left traumatised by these experiences of police officers abusing their powers. This class action is about securing justice for those individuals and ensuring we put an end to these invasive and unlawful practices.
"This isn’t just about music festivals. It’s about the rights of everyone and the need for police to follow the law. Strip searches should never have been allowed to become routine practice."
