NSW recorded 681 locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night from a 119,310 tests. Sadly, one death was recorded in that same time period. 59 cases were infectious in the community and the isolation status of 459 cases remains under investigation. Check the latest confirmed exposure venues here. This information is being updated as cases are confirmed and locations are verified. More information on today’s statistics here.

Due to ongoing community transmission of COVID-19 in regional NSW, the Government has today announced that stay-at-home orders will remain in place for regional NSW until 12.01am on August 28, in line with the restrictions already in place for Greater Sydney. If you live in a regional area, details about the extension are here.

Due to the continuation of the lockdown, there will be no new jury trials or personal appearances in any sittings of the District Court in New South Wales until 28 August 2021.
Current jury trials may continue. Practitioners should contact the relevant registry for AVL appearance details and listing confirmation.

Attached is a Practice Note to commence on August 30. Due to the large number of criminal trials being vacated, it is essential when jury trials resume that they proceed as efficiently as possible. Accordingly, when an application is made to vacate a trial, the trial will not be allocated a new hearing date until all pre-trial issues are argued and determined. The date allocated for the trial will be utilised for the hearing of the pre-trial argument. Where the parties consider there are no pre-trial issues, the Court will require on the application to vacate, affidavits to that effect from counsel for the Crown and counsel for the accused who have been briefed to appear at the trial which the parties are seeking to vacate.

In response to the latest developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent reports of positive COVID-19 cases in custodial settings, the Bugmy Bar Book has updated its COVID 19 research chapter. This research may be of assistance to legal practitioners in relation to bail applications as well as sentence and parole proceedings. The chapter will be updated online as the situation evolves.

The Federal Government has announced that the planned Summit on Women’s Safety will proceed as a virtual event on the 6th and 7th of September 2021, due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions across the country. The Summit will bring together experts, advocates and service providers from across Australia as well as people with lived experience of violence. Read more here.