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Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the daily,

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Speaker 1: This is the Daily OS.

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Speaker 2: Oh, now it makes sense.

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Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,

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Speaker 1: the second of October.

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Speaker 2: I'm Elliott Lourrie, I'm Emma Gillespie.

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Speaker 1: This week a woman was awarded ninety three thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: by a New South Wales court over an unlawful police

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Speaker 1: strip search at a twenty eighteen music festival. Strip searchers

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Speaker 1: are supposed to be conducted under exceptional circumstances only in

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Speaker 1: the most serious and urgent situations, but recent figures suggests

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Speaker 1: they're being conducted far more frequently. Over the past decade,

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Speaker 1: the number of young people alleging they were searched unlawfully,

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Speaker 1: often in humiliating and invasive circumstances, has remained high. In

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Speaker 1: today's podcast, we're going to talk you through the landmark

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Speaker 1: class action against New South Wales police and what it

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Speaker 1: means for the future of strip searches at music festivals.

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Speaker 2: We will get into all of that right after a

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Speaker 2: quick word from our sponsor. Elliott, You've got a really

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Speaker 2: important and super interesting case to talk us through today

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Speaker 2: and one that has been a really long time coming.

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Speaker 2: I might add we've been tracking this one over the

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Speaker 2: last few years here at TDA. But before we jump

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Speaker 2: into the specifics of this one, I think a good

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Speaker 2: place to start would be explaining a little bit about

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Speaker 2: strip searches themselves. What are they so?

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Speaker 1: Strip searchers are commonly enforced police tactics at Ozzie music festivals.

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Speaker 1: I think anyone who's listening, who's been to a music

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Speaker 1: festival is pretty familiar with this sort of scene of

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Speaker 1: you know, police walking up and down a line while

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Speaker 1: you're waiting to enter. They often have sniffer dogs, and

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Speaker 1: now and again they will pull people out of the

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Speaker 1: line for a search.

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Speaker 2: Yep. You've probably also seen sniffer dogs at train stations.

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Speaker 2: That's another kind of really commonplace where we know strip

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Speaker 2: searches can occur.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really key. So it's not just music festivals,

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Speaker 1: it's actually a lot of places where there's live events.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: It's worth noting that strip search laws differ between the

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Speaker 1: States and the territories. Broadly, these different pieces of legislation

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Speaker 1: have a lot in common, but there are some variations,

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Speaker 1: which we'll get into shortly. Okay, generally, though, a strip

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Speaker 1: search involves a person having to remove some or all

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Speaker 1: of their clothing. And that's different to a general search

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Speaker 1: where police just pat you down on the outside of

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Speaker 1: your clothes.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So when or why might police opt to conduct

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Speaker 2: a strip search over say that general kind of pat

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Speaker 2: down search.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. So police must reasonably suspect that you're

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Speaker 1: carrying something illegal on you, like drugs, in order to

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Speaker 1: perform a strip search.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So they have to suspect that you're concealing something

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Speaker 2: illicit exactly.

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Speaker 1: And in New South Wales, where this lawsuit was filed,

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Speaker 1: police can't perform a strip search unless the quote seriousness

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Speaker 1: and urgency of the circumstances make it necessary. Now that's

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Speaker 1: coming from the legislation that gives police powers to perform

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Speaker 1: the strip search. There's these really clear guidelines yeap.

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Speaker 2: So those guidelines kind of make it a last resort exactly.

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Speaker 1: And during a search, an officer can look someone in

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Speaker 1: the mouth, but they're not allowed to explore any other

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Speaker 1: cavities like their general They also shouldn't ask a person

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Speaker 1: to remove any more clothing than is reasonably necessary.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: Now, the last piece of information that you need to

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Speaker 1: know is that for a strip search to happen, it

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Speaker 1: should be undertaken by an officer of the same sex

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Speaker 1: as the person who's being searched.

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Speaker 2: All right, So that gives us a sense of the

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Speaker 2: legal framework in place in New South Wales for police

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Speaker 2: there to conduct strip searchers. Obviously there have been these

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Speaker 2: mounting allegations to suggest that the rules aren't being followed

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Speaker 2: though by police in some cases. So what do we

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Speaker 2: know about these unlawful searchers?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think over the last decade we've definitely seen

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Speaker 1: a lot of cases of festival goers and other community

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Speaker 1: members accusing the police of undertaking these strip searches with

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Speaker 1: little grounds to do so. In October twenty eighteen we

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Speaker 1: even saw the launch of an inquiry into the New

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Speaker 1: South Wales Police by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission after

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Speaker 1: it had received a number of complaints about strip searches. Now,

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Speaker 1: the report that came out of that inquiry found that

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Speaker 1: police consistently stepped over the line of what the laws

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Speaker 1: actually allow them to do, pointing to inconsistencies in the

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Speaker 1: way that officers are trained and also the operating procedures

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Speaker 1: that they undertake. The inquiry also collected expert evidence on

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Speaker 1: the sort of psychological trauma that people often experience during

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Speaker 1: and after a strip search, especially amongst young people. That's

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Speaker 1: a really common thread that we saw. Now jump forward

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Speaker 1: a couple of years and a class action lawsuit was

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Speaker 1: lodged against the New South Wales Police in twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 1: with more than three thousand people saying that they had

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Speaker 1: been subjected to unlawful strip searchers.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so this all comes within a context of heightened

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Speaker 2: scrutiny over the police force, especially in New South Wales,

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Speaker 2: and about the kind of lawfulness or alleged unlawfulness of

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Speaker 2: how they are conducting searchers, particularly against young people at

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Speaker 2: music festivals. So that kind of culminates in this class

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Speaker 2: action in twenty twenty two, this large group of people

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Speaker 2: joining together to take on the New South Wales Police force,

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Speaker 2: and that is what known as a class action when

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Speaker 2: you have a big group of people that bring a lawsuit.

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Speaker 2: But this case is actually centered around the experiences of

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Speaker 2: one woman in particular, this lead plaintiff, as all class

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Speaker 2: actions have. Can you talk me through who she is

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Speaker 2: and what happened on her side and what is her

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Speaker 2: story to kind of kick all of this off.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So The lead plaintiff in this case is named

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Speaker 1: Riah Meredith. She is a woman who was attending Splendor

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Speaker 1: in the Grass in twenty eighteen when she was twenty

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Speaker 1: seven years old, and before she even entered the Byron festival,

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Speaker 1: she was approached by a police officer with a drug

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Speaker 1: detection dog who sniffed in her direction and then quickly

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Speaker 1: moved on to the next person. But shortly after that,

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Speaker 1: the officer actually came back and tapped her on the

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Speaker 1: shoulder and directed her to move towards a makeshift area

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Speaker 1: near the festival entrance, which is where they took her bag.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so this person, Riya Meredith, went to Splendor, a

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Speaker 2: sniffer dog came near her but moved away, and then

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Speaker 2: she was tapped on the shoulder.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's very important. Okay, I'm going to pause before

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Speaker 1: I tell you this next part just because I do

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Speaker 1: want to give a little content warning. What I'm about

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Speaker 1: to say is quite distressing. But basically, Riya told the

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Speaker 1: court that the area that she was searched in was

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Speaker 1: comprised of a number of open makeshift cubicles. It's closed

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Speaker 1: in by a one and a half meter high screen. Now,

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Speaker 1: she explained, it would have been super easy for someone

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Speaker 1: to look into the cubicle. And you have to remember

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Speaker 1: that where she's being searched is just next to the

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Speaker 1: festival entrance, so it's a really high traffic area. Now,

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Speaker 1: once inside the cubicle, a female officer entered and proceeded

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Speaker 1: to pat down Rya do a general search, and she

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Speaker 1: then asked her have you inserted anything, to which Rya responded, no,

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Speaker 1: I have a tampon in The officer then said, if

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Speaker 1: you are lying, you will get kicked out of this festival.

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Speaker 1: Riya told the court. She was then asked to remove

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Speaker 1: her clothes on the lower half of her body, including

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Speaker 1: her underwear. She was then also instructed to pull out

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Speaker 1: her tampon and show it to the officer. Rio said

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Speaker 1: she only managed to get it about halfway out before

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Speaker 1: the officer then bent down and pulled on the string

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Speaker 1: of the tampon.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So, so as you flagged an extremely distressing recount.

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Speaker 2: And we also know, though, based on the legal parameters

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Speaker 2: of striep searches that you outlined earlier, Elliott, that there

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Speaker 2: are already a few breaches there in that anecdote. Is

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Speaker 2: that where the search ended.

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Speaker 1: No, so Yer actually said that she was then directed

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Speaker 1: by the female police officer to turn around and bend over.

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Speaker 1: At this point in time, a male police officer then

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Speaker 1: entered the cubicle unannounced to return her bag. He said

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Speaker 1: there was no drugs found in the bag, but obviously

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Speaker 1: she was in a very compromising position. Ry I said,

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Speaker 1: she quickly put her clothes back on, but she was

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Speaker 1: subjected to further police questioning after that, and all that

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Speaker 1: all that process took about thirty minutes.

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Speaker 2: Thirty minutes in a situation like that sounds like probably

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Speaker 2: a timeframe that would feel like a lifetime. So did

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Speaker 2: police find any illicit substances during that quite rigorous process.

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Speaker 1: No, they did not find any drugs during the strip search.

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Speaker 1: And during the court's judgment early this week, we actually

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Speaker 1: heard about how the ordeal left vey of feeling embarrassed, humiliated,

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Speaker 1: and suffering from extreme shock, and the judge even read

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Speaker 1: out some pretty upsetting testimony that described how once inside

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Speaker 1: the festival, Raya was not able to change her tampon

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Speaker 1: because her hands were shaking so violently.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say that's one ordeal in

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Speaker 2: and of itself, but then you know, presumably she goes

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Speaker 2: into the festival to join her friends and just kind

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Speaker 2: of has to carry on like everything's normal. This though,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's important to point out, this is

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Speaker 2: one story that is part of a class action of

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Speaker 2: thousands of other alleged unlawful strip searches. So how have

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Speaker 2: police responded to this action?

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Speaker 1: Well, when the class action was first lodged in the

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Speaker 1: New South Wales Supreme Court, police were pretty ready to

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Speaker 1: defend their actions. They originally argued that the officers were

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Speaker 1: in their right to perform the search because the police

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Speaker 1: dog sniffed in Meyer's direction. But right before the hearing

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Speaker 1: was about to begin, we actually saw a massive backlip

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Speaker 1: from the They basically withdrew twenty two witnesses that were

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Speaker 1: going to take the stand. They were going to be

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Speaker 1: giving evidence that sort of contradicted Riya's testimony, and they

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Speaker 1: also conceded that the search that they had conducted was

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Speaker 1: out of their right and that it was completely unlawful.

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Speaker 2: What did we learn from the judgment about strip searches

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Speaker 2: in New South Wales? You know, more broadly, how did

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Speaker 2: the class action wrap up?

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Speaker 1: So Justice Yrhere was pretty stern while delivering her judgment

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday. She described the training and supervision of officers

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Speaker 1: in the field as wholly unacceptable and said that the

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Speaker 1: implied power to order a strip search doesn't actually exist. Rather,

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Speaker 1: they actually need to be consented to. You can't order one.

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Speaker 1: And I want to go back to the legislation that

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Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, which says that the circumstances needed to

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Speaker 1: warrant a strip search have to be serious, urgent, and necessary, okay.

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Speaker 1: And this is something that Justice yhere pointed to as well,

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Speaker 1: saying that police pretty much failed on all three of

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Speaker 1: those tests, and ultimately the court ruled in favor of Ria,

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Speaker 1: awarding her ninety three thousand dollars compensation for battery, assault,

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Speaker 1: false imprisonment, and aggravated damages. Now, I want to point

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Speaker 1: out that she will likely receive some more money some

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Speaker 1: additional damages, but these can't be calculated yet because the

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Speaker 1: rest of the class action needs to be settled to

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Speaker 1: then determine exactly how much okay she is owed.

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Speaker 2: So that was going to be my next question then,

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Speaker 2: because this is a class action involving three thousand other

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Speaker 2: people who've signed on right, so we have some compensation

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Speaker 2: for the lead plaintiff, but what happens to the rest

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Speaker 2: of the plaintiffs At.

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Speaker 1: The moment, the fate of the other plaintiffs is very

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Speaker 1: much up in the air. The court has not yet

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Speaker 1: decided what they will be owed, if they will be

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Speaker 1: owed anything, but from the sounds of things, they definitely

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Speaker 1: will be We do know though, that the New South

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Speaker 1: Wales government could be liable to pay up to one

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars in damages once all the

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Speaker 1: other claims are determined.

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Speaker 2: That's a lot of money, yeah, sure is.

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Speaker 1: Now legal firms later in Gordon, they're the ones who

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Speaker 1: led this class action alongside the Red Firm Legal Center.

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Speaker 1: They said it's urging New South Wales police to negotiate

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Speaker 1: a settlement for the remainder of the group, saying if

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Speaker 1: a sensible settlement cannot be achieved, the cost to the

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Speaker 1: state will be far higher. Now the law firm has

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Speaker 1: said that this case means that more people could be

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Speaker 1: entitled to compensation if they were also unlawfully strip searched

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Speaker 1: in the time period being twenty sixteen to twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 1: They're also looking into opening up an additional class action

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Speaker 1: for those most recent cases too.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: Now the matter is set to return to court later

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Speaker 1: this month and that's when we'll find out what will

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Speaker 1: happen to the rest of the class action.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so a few more moving parts. And looking at

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Speaker 2: that language from Slater and Gordon that you know, for

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Speaker 2: a settlement can't be reached, that the costs will be higher.

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Speaker 2: I think, you know, it's important to remember with class

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Speaker 2: actions that a settlement isn't necessarily an admission of guilt,

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Speaker 2: but that these legal representatives are obviously saying that there's

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Speaker 2: a lot more steam in the tank to take this further,

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Speaker 2: and court proceedings are expensive, so it'll be fascinating to

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Speaker 2: see what happens now. But Elliott zooming out, you know,

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Speaker 2: away from this case thinking about festivals more broadly, is

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Speaker 2: this the end of strip searches at New South Wales festivals?

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Speaker 1: I wish I had the answer for that. I don't

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Speaker 1: at the moment, but because we do have this judgment,

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Speaker 1: it's definitely going to change things. So it's such a

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Speaker 1: legal precedent that'll make it a lot easier for people

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Speaker 1: to bring claims against the police. Yeah, and also because

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Speaker 1: we've had this case, I think police will be wary

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Speaker 1: of all the scrutiny that is potentially on them now,

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Speaker 1: and I would say that their procedures are going to

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Speaker 1: have a big shake up internally if I was to

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Speaker 1: get so, I think it's pretty unlikely they'll stop all together,

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Speaker 1: but this could lead to an overhaul of strip search

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Speaker 1: laws and walking back of police powers. Either way, we

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Speaker 1: do have festival season just around the corner, so I

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Speaker 1: think we'll see in the coming months exactly how this

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Speaker 1: will play out.

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Speaker 2: So so interesting, Elliott, Thank you for summarizing that one

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Speaker 2: for us, such a fascinating case that I know a

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Speaker 2: lot of our listeners have really cared about. Thanks em

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Speaker 2: and thank you for listening to today's episode. We'll be

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Speaker 2: back a little later on with your evening news headlines,

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Speaker 2: but until then, have a great day.

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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest

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Speaker 1: Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present