Australian beer-drinking mayor fined for flouting coronavirus social distancing measures

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Law and coronavirus enforcement

Police across the country are tasked with enforcing the government's social distancing and stay-at-home orders, but in some cases, has it gone too far? Rich Edson reports.

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An Australian mayor was slapped with a hefty fine Thursday after being photographed outside a hotel swigging a beer, seemingly violating social distancing measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The mayor of Warrnambool, Tony Herbert, was fined $1,043 by Victoria Police Thursday. On April 7, a passerby snapped a photo of the mayor outside The Whalerhotel with three other men drinking a beer. His mayoral car was also seen parked outside the business.

Herbert admitted that he has “made mistakes” but assured the public he has stopped at the hotel to check in with local business owners as part of his mayoral duties, which he believed were “within the bounds of the law," the BBC reported.

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After having "chance, unplanned and emotional encounter with one business owner,” he said two others stopped to chat with them, one of them handing the mayor a beer.

"It is important for any mayor, where reasonable and safe to do so, to find out first-hand about the state of their city," Herbert said in a statement. "However, I realize that I had inadvertently breached the new laws to keep the community safe. I am genuinely sorry for my actions."

In a video message posted to the Warrnambool City Council Facebook page, Mayor Tony Herbert urges residents to "do more" to maintain social distancing and curb the spread of infection.

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In the hours before the photo was taken, Herbert recorded a video message urging residents “to stay at home and observe hand washing and social distancing protocols.”

"Let’s keep doing the things we have been asked to do by the government," he said in the video later posted to the Warrnambool Facebook Page.

Police officers refrain a woman from swimming on Bondi Beach in Sydney on April 11, 2020. - Authorities closed Sydney's Bondi Beach and increased police patrol in an effort to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP) (Photo by SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Police in several Australian states have been given unprecedented and sweeping power to curb aspects of public life in an effort to slow the spread of infection. Since March, health ministers in most states have issued public health orders allowing officers to fine or arrest people gathering in groups of more than two people or who are caught outside the home “without a reasonable excuse."

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Victoria Police have issued hundreds of fines to those violating public health orders. Movement restriction prohibits people from being outside their homes for nonessential purposes, even in some instances, if they remain inside their parked cars in a public place.

Australia recorded just 6,462 confirmed cases, with at least 63 deaths by Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In his address Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced a three-point plan for easing social distancing measures, urging the public: “We can't allow our patience to wear off."