South West superintendent Geoff Stewart says no fines issued as region responds to Perth’s COVID lockdown

The South West’s top cop has praised the public’s response to last night’s snap COVID lockdown and said he was relieved very few Perth and Peel residents attempted to flee to the region for freedom. Premier Mark McGowan announced last night Perth and Peel would enter a four-day lockdown, with residents only able to leave the home for work, or essential shopping or exercise within a five kilometre radius of their homes. It comes just months after a similar lockdown in April that saw thousands of travellers quickly attempt to escape down South, where frustrated cops were forced to fine visitors flouting mask laws and distancing requirements. But South West Superintendent Geoff Stewart said “very few” motorists had attempted to get through before the lockdown came into effect at midnight tonight. “There wasn’t a lot of vehicle traffic over night and there were only a very small number that were turned back,” he said. “We will probably get some that will try and get around it but if we get them we will educate them so they do the right thing.” The police checkpoint at Lake Clifton was set up again over night to and saw mostly trucks and work vehicles, with the occasional trapped weekend holiday maker returning home to Perth. A total of ten officers are stationed at the twenty-four-hour checkpoint and travellers no longer require a G2G pass this time around but are asked to prove their reason for travel with written documentation or proof of address. It was business as usual for cafes, pubs and retailers in the Bunbury CBD and tourism hotspots such as Margaret River, Busselton and Dunsborough today, as residents and workers returning from the city donned face masks in accordance with restrictions. Supt Stewart said he was pleased to see people doing the right thing and that no fines for breaches of mask laws had been issued. “You see people around who are wearing them and if you are, good on you, and if you’re not, put it on,” he said. “We need everyone to be in this together, as they say, and we need everyone to do the right thing. “We haven’t had to do a lot of enforcement... it is not about handing out tickets and arresting people and things like that, it is about handing out masks.” It was a stark contrast to April’s lockdown which saw venues pin up signs telling Perth tourists they were not welcome as thousands headed to the region to spend the Easter long weekend free of restrictions. Mr McGowan announced today no new cases of COVID-19 had been recorded overnight, and that of the 2019 close contacts of the three existing cases, 109 had returned negative test results so far. In the Perth and Peel regions, schools and childcare centres remain open and people are urged to work from home if possible. As it stands, the lockdown is set to be lifted at 12.01am on Saturday.