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A class action  against the state of NSW brought by plaintiff Raya Meredith has started  in the Supreme Court of NSW.

In 2018, Meredith was strip-searched by the police at the Splendour In The Grass music festival in New South Wales, a situation her Barrister, Kylie Nomchong SC,  described as invasive, humiliating, and “akin to sexual assault”.

In her opening statement, Nomchong noted the defendant admitted to having falsely imprisoned the plaintiff but reinforced that this situation is indicative of how the police working in music festivals don’t have adequate training, supervision, or inductions to conduct strip searches. Nomchong said that the plaintiff would not have been strip-searched without such preparation.

Meredith was searched after a police dog sniffed in her direction and then moved away. The police officers took her to an area on the side of the entrance to the festival, where some cubicles made of tarpaulin-like materials had been installed. She was asked to completely remove her clothes, including exposing her breasts and her lower area, pulling her tampon, and bending over for the inspector to conduct a more thorough inspection. At this time, a male police officer entered the cubicle without warning.

Nomchong pointed out that none of the safeguards implemented by the NSW Government to protect civilians were complied with. These include assurance of privacy, the fact that consent had been sought, no interrogation during the search, and no cavity searches. According to the statement of claim, not only were questions asked during the search, but the plaintiff was threatened when the police officer told her, “If you are lying, you will get kicked out of the Festival”. The search didn’t find any illegal substances and lawyers for the State have admitted Meredith’s imprisonment  was unlawful.

Meredith is one of the plaintiffs subjected to invasive and potentially unlawful strip searches in music festivals between 2016 and 2022. They are part of this class action brought against the state of New South Wales by the law firm Slater and Gordon and the Redfern Legal Centre.

Justice Dina Yehia is presiding over  the case, which was initially expected to run over 20 days of hearings. It’s now expected to be considerably shorter, due to a reduced number of witnesses being called.

Proceedings continue next week.