October 1, 2025 • 13 mins
This week, a woman was awarded $93,000 by a NSW court over an unlawful police strip search at a 2018 music festival. Strip searches are supposed to be conducted under exceptional circumstances only, but recent figures suggest they’re being conducted more frequently. Over the past decade, the number of young people alleging they were searched unlawfully, often in humiliating and invasive circumstances, has remained high. In today’s podcast we’re going to talk you through the landmark class action against NSW Police, and what it means for the future of strip searches at music festivals.
Hosts: Elliot Lawry and Emma GillespieProducer: Orla Maher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is the daily This is the daily,
This is the Daily OS.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
the second of October.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Elliott Lourrie, I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This week a woman was awarded ninety three thousand dollars
by a New South Wales court over an unlawful police
strip search at a twenty eighteen music festival. Strip searchers
are supposed to be conducted under exceptional circumstances only in
the most serious and urgent situations, but recent figures suggests
they're being conducted far more frequently. Over the past decade,
the number of young people alleging they were searched unlawfully,
(00:43):
often in humiliating and invasive circumstances, has remained high. In
today's podcast, we're going to talk you through the landmark
class action against New South Wales police and what it
means for the future of strip searches at music festivals.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
We will get into all of that right after a
quick word from our sponsor. Elliott, You've got a really
important and super interesting case to talk us through today
and one that has been a really long time coming.
I might add we've been tracking this one over the
last few years here at TDA. But before we jump
(01:15):
into the specifics of this one, I think a good
place to start would be explaining a little bit about
strip searches themselves. What are they so?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Strip searchers are commonly enforced police tactics at Ozzie music festivals.
I think anyone who's listening, who's been to a music
festival is pretty familiar with this sort of scene of
you know, police walking up and down a line while
you're waiting to enter. They often have sniffer dogs, and
now and again they will pull people out of the
line for a search.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yep. You've probably also seen sniffer dogs at train stations.
That's another kind of really commonplace where we know strip
searches can occur.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, that's really key. So it's not just music festivals,
it's actually a lot of places where there's live events.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It's worth noting that strip search laws differ between the
States and the territories. Broadly, these different pieces of legislation
have a lot in common, but there are some variations,
which we'll get into shortly. Okay, generally, though, a strip
search involves a person having to remove some or all
of their clothing. And that's different to a general search
where police just pat you down on the outside of
(02:14):
your clothes.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, So when or why might police opt to conduct
a strip search over say that general kind of pat
down search.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, for sure. So police must reasonably suspect that you're
carrying something illegal on you, like drugs, in order to
perform a strip search.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, So they have to suspect that you're concealing something
illicit exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And in New South Wales, where this lawsuit was filed,
police can't perform a strip search unless the quote seriousness
and urgency of the circumstances make it necessary. Now that's
coming from the legislation that gives police powers to perform
the strip search. There's these really clear guidelines yeap.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So those guidelines kind of make it a last resort exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And during a search, an officer can look someone in
the mouth, but they're not allowed to explore any other
cavities like their general They also shouldn't ask a person
to remove any more clothing than is reasonably necessary.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Now, the last piece of information that you need to
know is that for a strip search to happen, it
should be undertaken by an officer of the same sex
as the person who's being searched.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All right, So that gives us a sense of the
legal framework in place in New South Wales for police
there to conduct strip searchers. Obviously there have been these
mounting allegations to suggest that the rules aren't being followed
though by police in some cases. So what do we
know about these unlawful searchers?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, I think over the last decade we've definitely seen
a lot of cases of festival goers and other community
members accusing the police of undertaking these strip searches with
little grounds to do so. In October twenty eighteen we
even saw the launch of an inquiry into the New
South Wales Police by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission after
it had received a number of complaints about strip searches. Now,
(03:57):
the report that came out of that inquiry found that
police consistently stepped over the line of what the laws
actually allow them to do, pointing to inconsistencies in the
way that officers are trained and also the operating procedures
that they undertake. The inquiry also collected expert evidence on
the sort of psychological trauma that people often experience during
and after a strip search, especially amongst young people. That's
(04:20):
a really common thread that we saw. Now jump forward
a couple of years and a class action lawsuit was
lodged against the New South Wales Police in twenty twenty two,
with more than three thousand people saying that they had
been subjected to unlawful strip searchers.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, so this all comes within a context of heightened
scrutiny over the police force, especially in New South Wales,
and about the kind of lawfulness or alleged unlawfulness of
how they are conducting searchers, particularly against young people at
music festivals. So that kind of culminates in this class
action in twenty twenty two, this large group of people
(04:55):
joining together to take on the New South Wales Police force,
and that is what known as a class action when
you have a big group of people that bring a lawsuit.
But this case is actually centered around the experiences of
one woman in particular, this lead plaintiff, as all class
actions have. Can you talk me through who she is
(05:15):
and what happened on her side and what is her
story to kind of kick all of this off.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, So The lead plaintiff in this case is named
Riah Meredith. She is a woman who was attending Splendor
in the Grass in twenty eighteen when she was twenty
seven years old, and before she even entered the Byron festival,
she was approached by a police officer with a drug
detection dog who sniffed in her direction and then quickly
moved on to the next person. But shortly after that,
the officer actually came back and tapped her on the
(05:42):
shoulder and directed her to move towards a makeshift area
near the festival entrance, which is where they took her bag.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Okay, so this person, Riya Meredith, went to Splendor, a
sniffer dog came near her but moved away, and then
she was tapped on the shoulder.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, that's very important. Okay, I'm going to pause before
I tell you this next part just because I do
want to give a little content warning. What I'm about
to say is quite distressing. But basically, Riya told the
court that the area that she was searched in was
comprised of a number of open makeshift cubicles. It's closed
in by a one and a half meter high screen. Now,
she explained, it would have been super easy for someone
(06:19):
to look into the cubicle. And you have to remember
that where she's being searched is just next to the
festival entrance, so it's a really high traffic area. Now,
once inside the cubicle, a female officer entered and proceeded
to pat down Rya do a general search, and she
then asked her have you inserted anything, to which Rya responded, no,
I have a tampon in The officer then said, if
(06:39):
you are lying, you will get kicked out of this festival.
Riya told the court. She was then asked to remove
her clothes on the lower half of her body, including
her underwear. She was then also instructed to pull out
her tampon and show it to the officer. Rio said
she only managed to get it about halfway out before
the officer then bent down and pulled on the string
of the tampon.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Okay, So, so as you flagged an extremely distressing recount.
And we also know, though, based on the legal parameters
of striep searches that you outlined earlier, Elliott, that there
are already a few breaches there in that anecdote. Is
that where the search ended.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
No, so Yer actually said that she was then directed
by the female police officer to turn around and bend over.
At this point in time, a male police officer then
entered the cubicle unannounced to return her bag. He said
there was no drugs found in the bag, but obviously
she was in a very compromising position. Ry I said,
she quickly put her clothes back on, but she was
(07:36):
subjected to further police questioning after that, and all that
all that process took about thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Thirty minutes in a situation like that sounds like probably
a timeframe that would feel like a lifetime. So did
police find any illicit substances during that quite rigorous process.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
No, they did not find any drugs during the strip search.
And during the court's judgment early this week, we actually
heard about how the ordeal left vey of feeling embarrassed, humiliated,
and suffering from extreme shock, and the judge even read
out some pretty upsetting testimony that described how once inside
the festival, Raya was not able to change her tampon
because her hands were shaking so violently.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, I was going to say that's one ordeal in
and of itself, but then you know, presumably she goes
into the festival to join her friends and just kind
of has to carry on like everything's normal. This though,
and I think it's important to point out, this is
one story that is part of a class action of
thousands of other alleged unlawful strip searches. So how have
(08:39):
police responded to this action?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, when the class action was first lodged in the
New South Wales Supreme Court, police were pretty ready to
defend their actions. They originally argued that the officers were
in their right to perform the search because the police
dog sniffed in Meyer's direction. But right before the hearing
was about to begin, we actually saw a massive backlip
from the They basically withdrew twenty two witnesses that were
(09:03):
going to take the stand. They were going to be
giving evidence that sort of contradicted Riya's testimony, and they
also conceded that the search that they had conducted was
out of their right and that it was completely unlawful.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
What did we learn from the judgment about strip searches
in New South Wales? You know, more broadly, how did
the class action wrap up?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So Justice Yrhere was pretty stern while delivering her judgment
on Tuesday. She described the training and supervision of officers
in the field as wholly unacceptable and said that the
implied power to order a strip search doesn't actually exist. Rather,
they actually need to be consented to. You can't order one.
And I want to go back to the legislation that
I mentioned earlier, which says that the circumstances needed to
(09:44):
warrant a strip search have to be serious, urgent, and necessary, okay.
And this is something that Justice yhere pointed to as well,
saying that police pretty much failed on all three of
those tests, and ultimately the court ruled in favor of Ria,
awarding her ninety three thousand dollars compensation for battery, assault,
false imprisonment, and aggravated damages. Now, I want to point
(10:06):
out that she will likely receive some more money some
additional damages, but these can't be calculated yet because the
rest of the class action needs to be settled to
then determine exactly how much okay she is owed.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So that was going to be my next question then,
because this is a class action involving three thousand other
people who've signed on right, so we have some compensation
for the lead plaintiff, but what happens to the rest
of the plaintiffs At.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
The moment, the fate of the other plaintiffs is very
much up in the air. The court has not yet
decided what they will be owed, if they will be
owed anything, but from the sounds of things, they definitely
will be We do know though, that the New South
Wales government could be liable to pay up to one
hundred and fifty million dollars in damages once all the
other claims are determined.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's a lot of money, yeah, sure is.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Now legal firms later in Gordon, they're the ones who
led this class action alongside the Red Firm Legal Center.
They said it's urging New South Wales police to negotiate
a settlement for the remainder of the group, saying if
a sensible settlement cannot be achieved, the cost to the
state will be far higher. Now the law firm has
said that this case means that more people could be
entitled to compensation if they were also unlawfully strip searched
(11:13):
in the time period being twenty sixteen to twenty twenty two.
They're also looking into opening up an additional class action
for those most recent cases too.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Now the matter is set to return to court later
this month and that's when we'll find out what will
happen to the rest of the class action.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay, so a few more moving parts. And looking at
that language from Slater and Gordon that you know, for
a settlement can't be reached, that the costs will be higher.
I think, you know, it's important to remember with class
actions that a settlement isn't necessarily an admission of guilt,
but that these legal representatives are obviously saying that there's
a lot more steam in the tank to take this further,
(11:50):
and court proceedings are expensive, so it'll be fascinating to
see what happens now. But Elliott zooming out, you know,
away from this case thinking about festivals more broadly, is
this the end of strip searches at New South Wales festivals?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I wish I had the answer for that. I don't
at the moment, but because we do have this judgment,
it's definitely going to change things. So it's such a
legal precedent that'll make it a lot easier for people
to bring claims against the police. Yeah, and also because
we've had this case, I think police will be wary
of all the scrutiny that is potentially on them now,
and I would say that their procedures are going to
(12:26):
have a big shake up internally if I was to
get so, I think it's pretty unlikely they'll stop all together,
but this could lead to an overhaul of strip search
laws and walking back of police powers. Either way, we
do have festival season just around the corner, so I
think we'll see in the coming months exactly how this
will play out.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So so interesting, Elliott, Thank you for summarizing that one
for us, such a fascinating case that I know a
lot of our listeners have really cared about. Thanks em
and thank you for listening to today's episode. We'll be
back a little later on with your evening news headlines,
but until then, have a great day.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present
Already and this is the daily This is the daily,
This is the Daily OS.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
the second of October.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Elliott Lourrie, I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This week a woman was awarded ninety three thousand dollars
by a New South Wales court over an unlawful police
strip search at a twenty eighteen music festival. Strip searchers
are supposed to be conducted under exceptional circumstances only in
the most serious and urgent situations, but recent figures suggests
they're being conducted far more frequently. Over the past decade,
the number of young people alleging they were searched unlawfully,
(00:43):
often in humiliating and invasive circumstances, has remained high. In
today's podcast, we're going to talk you through the landmark
class action against New South Wales police and what it
means for the future of strip searches at music festivals.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
We will get into all of that right after a
quick word from our sponsor. Elliott, You've got a really
important and super interesting case to talk us through today
and one that has been a really long time coming.
I might add we've been tracking this one over the
last few years here at TDA. But before we jump
(01:15):
into the specifics of this one, I think a good
place to start would be explaining a little bit about
strip searches themselves. What are they so?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Strip searchers are commonly enforced police tactics at Ozzie music festivals.
I think anyone who's listening, who's been to a music
festival is pretty familiar with this sort of scene of
you know, police walking up and down a line while
you're waiting to enter. They often have sniffer dogs, and
now and again they will pull people out of the
line for a search.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yep. You've probably also seen sniffer dogs at train stations.
That's another kind of really commonplace where we know strip
searches can occur.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, that's really key. So it's not just music festivals,
it's actually a lot of places where there's live events.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
It's worth noting that strip search laws differ between the
States and the territories. Broadly, these different pieces of legislation
have a lot in common, but there are some variations,
which we'll get into shortly. Okay, generally, though, a strip
search involves a person having to remove some or all
of their clothing. And that's different to a general search
where police just pat you down on the outside of
(02:14):
your clothes.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, So when or why might police opt to conduct
a strip search over say that general kind of pat
down search.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, for sure. So police must reasonably suspect that you're
carrying something illegal on you, like drugs, in order to
perform a strip search.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Okay, So they have to suspect that you're concealing something
illicit exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And in New South Wales, where this lawsuit was filed,
police can't perform a strip search unless the quote seriousness
and urgency of the circumstances make it necessary. Now that's
coming from the legislation that gives police powers to perform
the strip search. There's these really clear guidelines yeap.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So those guidelines kind of make it a last resort exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And during a search, an officer can look someone in
the mouth, but they're not allowed to explore any other
cavities like their general They also shouldn't ask a person
to remove any more clothing than is reasonably necessary.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Now, the last piece of information that you need to
know is that for a strip search to happen, it
should be undertaken by an officer of the same sex
as the person who's being searched.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All right, So that gives us a sense of the
legal framework in place in New South Wales for police
there to conduct strip searchers. Obviously there have been these
mounting allegations to suggest that the rules aren't being followed
though by police in some cases. So what do we
know about these unlawful searchers?
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, I think over the last decade we've definitely seen
a lot of cases of festival goers and other community
members accusing the police of undertaking these strip searches with
little grounds to do so. In October twenty eighteen we
even saw the launch of an inquiry into the New
South Wales Police by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission after
it had received a number of complaints about strip searches. Now,
(03:57):
the report that came out of that inquiry found that
police consistently stepped over the line of what the laws
actually allow them to do, pointing to inconsistencies in the
way that officers are trained and also the operating procedures
that they undertake. The inquiry also collected expert evidence on
the sort of psychological trauma that people often experience during
and after a strip search, especially amongst young people. That's
(04:20):
a really common thread that we saw. Now jump forward
a couple of years and a class action lawsuit was
lodged against the New South Wales Police in twenty twenty two,
with more than three thousand people saying that they had
been subjected to unlawful strip searchers.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, so this all comes within a context of heightened
scrutiny over the police force, especially in New South Wales,
and about the kind of lawfulness or alleged unlawfulness of
how they are conducting searchers, particularly against young people at
music festivals. So that kind of culminates in this class
action in twenty twenty two, this large group of people
(04:55):
joining together to take on the New South Wales Police force,
and that is what known as a class action when
you have a big group of people that bring a lawsuit.
But this case is actually centered around the experiences of
one woman in particular, this lead plaintiff, as all class
actions have. Can you talk me through who she is
(05:15):
and what happened on her side and what is her
story to kind of kick all of this off.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, So The lead plaintiff in this case is named
Riah Meredith. She is a woman who was attending Splendor
in the Grass in twenty eighteen when she was twenty
seven years old, and before she even entered the Byron festival,
she was approached by a police officer with a drug
detection dog who sniffed in her direction and then quickly
moved on to the next person. But shortly after that,
the officer actually came back and tapped her on the
(05:42):
shoulder and directed her to move towards a makeshift area
near the festival entrance, which is where they took her bag.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Okay, so this person, Riya Meredith, went to Splendor, a
sniffer dog came near her but moved away, and then
she was tapped on the shoulder.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, that's very important. Okay, I'm going to pause before
I tell you this next part just because I do
want to give a little content warning. What I'm about
to say is quite distressing. But basically, Riya told the
court that the area that she was searched in was
comprised of a number of open makeshift cubicles. It's closed
in by a one and a half meter high screen. Now,
she explained, it would have been super easy for someone
(06:19):
to look into the cubicle. And you have to remember
that where she's being searched is just next to the
festival entrance, so it's a really high traffic area. Now,
once inside the cubicle, a female officer entered and proceeded
to pat down Rya do a general search, and she
then asked her have you inserted anything, to which Rya responded, no,
I have a tampon in The officer then said, if
(06:39):
you are lying, you will get kicked out of this festival.
Riya told the court. She was then asked to remove
her clothes on the lower half of her body, including
her underwear. She was then also instructed to pull out
her tampon and show it to the officer. Rio said
she only managed to get it about halfway out before
the officer then bent down and pulled on the string
of the tampon.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Okay, So, so as you flagged an extremely distressing recount.
And we also know, though, based on the legal parameters
of striep searches that you outlined earlier, Elliott, that there
are already a few breaches there in that anecdote. Is
that where the search ended.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
No, so Yer actually said that she was then directed
by the female police officer to turn around and bend over.
At this point in time, a male police officer then
entered the cubicle unannounced to return her bag. He said
there was no drugs found in the bag, but obviously
she was in a very compromising position. Ry I said,
she quickly put her clothes back on, but she was
(07:36):
subjected to further police questioning after that, and all that
all that process took about thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Thirty minutes in a situation like that sounds like probably
a timeframe that would feel like a lifetime. So did
police find any illicit substances during that quite rigorous process.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
No, they did not find any drugs during the strip search.
And during the court's judgment early this week, we actually
heard about how the ordeal left vey of feeling embarrassed, humiliated,
and suffering from extreme shock, and the judge even read
out some pretty upsetting testimony that described how once inside
the festival, Raya was not able to change her tampon
because her hands were shaking so violently.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, I was going to say that's one ordeal in
and of itself, but then you know, presumably she goes
into the festival to join her friends and just kind
of has to carry on like everything's normal. This though,
and I think it's important to point out, this is
one story that is part of a class action of
thousands of other alleged unlawful strip searches. So how have
(08:39):
police responded to this action?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, when the class action was first lodged in the
New South Wales Supreme Court, police were pretty ready to
defend their actions. They originally argued that the officers were
in their right to perform the search because the police
dog sniffed in Meyer's direction. But right before the hearing
was about to begin, we actually saw a massive backlip
from the They basically withdrew twenty two witnesses that were
(09:03):
going to take the stand. They were going to be
giving evidence that sort of contradicted Riya's testimony, and they
also conceded that the search that they had conducted was
out of their right and that it was completely unlawful.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
What did we learn from the judgment about strip searches
in New South Wales? You know, more broadly, how did
the class action wrap up?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So Justice Yrhere was pretty stern while delivering her judgment
on Tuesday. She described the training and supervision of officers
in the field as wholly unacceptable and said that the
implied power to order a strip search doesn't actually exist. Rather,
they actually need to be consented to. You can't order one.
And I want to go back to the legislation that
I mentioned earlier, which says that the circumstances needed to
(09:44):
warrant a strip search have to be serious, urgent, and necessary, okay.
And this is something that Justice yhere pointed to as well,
saying that police pretty much failed on all three of
those tests, and ultimately the court ruled in favor of Ria,
awarding her ninety three thousand dollars compensation for battery, assault,
false imprisonment, and aggravated damages. Now, I want to point
(10:06):
out that she will likely receive some more money some
additional damages, but these can't be calculated yet because the
rest of the class action needs to be settled to
then determine exactly how much okay she is owed.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So that was going to be my next question then,
because this is a class action involving three thousand other
people who've signed on right, so we have some compensation
for the lead plaintiff, but what happens to the rest
of the plaintiffs At.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
The moment, the fate of the other plaintiffs is very
much up in the air. The court has not yet
decided what they will be owed, if they will be
owed anything, but from the sounds of things, they definitely
will be We do know though, that the New South
Wales government could be liable to pay up to one
hundred and fifty million dollars in damages once all the
other claims are determined.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's a lot of money, yeah, sure is.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Now legal firms later in Gordon, they're the ones who
led this class action alongside the Red Firm Legal Center.
They said it's urging New South Wales police to negotiate
a settlement for the remainder of the group, saying if
a sensible settlement cannot be achieved, the cost to the
state will be far higher. Now the law firm has
said that this case means that more people could be
entitled to compensation if they were also unlawfully strip searched
(11:13):
in the time period being twenty sixteen to twenty twenty two.
They're also looking into opening up an additional class action
for those most recent cases too.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Now the matter is set to return to court later
this month and that's when we'll find out what will
happen to the rest of the class action.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay, so a few more moving parts. And looking at
that language from Slater and Gordon that you know, for
a settlement can't be reached, that the costs will be higher.
I think, you know, it's important to remember with class
actions that a settlement isn't necessarily an admission of guilt,
but that these legal representatives are obviously saying that there's
a lot more steam in the tank to take this further,
(11:50):
and court proceedings are expensive, so it'll be fascinating to
see what happens now. But Elliott zooming out, you know,
away from this case thinking about festivals more broadly, is
this the end of strip searches at New South Wales festivals?
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I wish I had the answer for that. I don't
at the moment, but because we do have this judgment,
it's definitely going to change things. So it's such a
legal precedent that'll make it a lot easier for people
to bring claims against the police. Yeah, and also because
we've had this case, I think police will be wary
of all the scrutiny that is potentially on them now,
and I would say that their procedures are going to
(12:26):
have a big shake up internally if I was to
get so, I think it's pretty unlikely they'll stop all together,
but this could lead to an overhaul of strip search
laws and walking back of police powers. Either way, we
do have festival season just around the corner, so I
think we'll see in the coming months exactly how this
will play out.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So so interesting, Elliott, Thank you for summarizing that one
for us, such a fascinating case that I know a
lot of our listeners have really cared about. Thanks em
and thank you for listening to today's episode. We'll be
back a little later on with your evening news headlines,
but until then, have a great day.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present
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