Fifteen men have been issued $1000 COVID-19 infringement notices for gathering to play volleyball in a breach of Sydney's current public health orders.
NSW police officers noticed the group of men playing at a park in Canley Vale around 3.30pm on Sunday and approached them.
When officers approached some men fled the scene, but police stopped and spoke with 14 men, who had travelled to the area from across south-west Sydney including Cabramatta, Carramar, Canley Vale, Canley Heights, Kemps Creek, Cecil Hills, Liverpool and Leppington.
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A fifteenth man, who left his car keys and wallet at the park, spoke with officers a short time later.
All 15 men – aged between 20 and 63 – were issued with $1000 fines.
It was the latest in a series of incidents that involved police discovering Sydney residents not abiding by the city's coronavirus lockdown.
In a second incident, officers from Inner West Police Area Command were called to a hotel at St Peters about 9.15pm yesterday following reports of a disturbance in one of the rooms.
READ MORE: When will Sydney's lockdown end?
On arrival, police spoke with four men – aged between 32 and 41 – who said they had gathered to drink and socialise as they had not seen each other in years.
All four men were issued $1000 fines – with three sent home and the fourth remaining at the hotel.
In total, police issued 105 infringement notices, 16 of which were $200 fines for failing to wear a mask.
READ MORE: NSW records 112 new COVID-19 cases
NSW Police to use 'less discretion' with COVID-19 fines
NSW Police Minister David Elliott said police will be using less discretion from now on when targeting Sydneysiders who break lockdown rules.
"In the last couple of days police have been working with communities that don't listen to mainstream media and maybe haven't got the message, so the days of excuses will soon end and you will find yourself with either a $1000 ticket or a trip to a courthouse," Mr Elliott told Today.
Mr Elliott said police didn't want to give fines and the roughly 100 which were given in the latest 24-hour period was out of five million people, so most were doing the right thing.
"I think that the $1000 fine is fair. We don't want to give fines. The government doesn't want to give fines, we just want everybody to do the right thing because we all want to make sure we can get through this as quickly as possible," he said.
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