By Martin Cole-
A Western Australian man has been jailed for at least two months for booking tradespeople to work on his house while he was supposed to be quarantining after returning from interstate.
The 53-year-old man who arrived in Perth from Brisbane on 27 June was ordered to quarantine for 14 days, and had said he would quarantine at his home in Scarborough.
The law came hard on the man after he invited members of the public to his home to buy items he had been selling on an online platform. His decision to break the rules was caught after he foolishly told someone visiting his home that he was under Covid self-quarantine orders. The person he informed was worried about the chances of him catching a virus from the man, and potentially spreading it to his family.
“Subsequent to entering self-quarantine the man had tradespeople conducting work and members of the public attend his address to buy items that were listed for sale online,” WA police said.
“A complaint was made to police after the man disclosed to a person attending his address that he was under self-quarantine,” police said.
The man pleaded guilty to 15 counts of failing to comply with a direction and was sentenced to seven months in jail.
He will serve two months of his sentence immediately, with the final five months suspended.
As part of WA’s Covid rules at the time, someone isolating under his conditions was not allowed to have visitors.
The decision to jail him makes Australia one of the countries with the strictest response to coronavirus breaches.
Breaches to self isolation rules in the Uk are punishable with a fine of up to £500 for those on lower incomes who cannot work from home and have lost income as a result. Higher fines for those breaching self-isolation rules start at £1,000 – bringing this in line with the penalty for breaking quarantine after international travel They can increase to up to £10,000 for repeat offenders and for the most egregious breaches.