Damages awarded over illegal strip search at festival
The landmark NSW case was the largest class action to have been brought against any police force in Australian history
News By James Hanley | 30 September 2025
A Sydney woman has been awarded A$93,000 (€52,000) damages after being illegally strip searched by NSW Police at an Australian music festival.
Law firm Slater and Gordon and Redfern Legal Centre launched the class action, brought by lead plaintiff Raya Meredith, on behalf of people who were forced to be strip searched by NSW Police at music festivals between 2016 and 2022.
More than 3,000 people registered for the landmark case – the largest class action to have been brought against any police force in Australian history – with thousands more strip searches conducted across the claim period.
The Supreme Court of NSW previously heard Meredith was subject to a “highly invasive and humiliating” inspection “akin to sexual assault” by police, who told her to bend over while naked and remove…
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