Limousine driver at the centre of Bondi cluster wont be charged, Police Commissioner says

The limousine driver at the centre of Sydney’s COVID-19 cluster won’t be charged, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says.

Some of the man’s passengers included international airline crew. He had not had a COVID-19 vaccine.

He tested positive for the Delta COVID-19 variant on June 16, later that night it was confirmed his wife had also been infected.

Since then, more than 80 infections have been detected, sending millions of people into a two-week lockdown. A wide-ranging police investigation was initiated into whether the Bondi man in his 60s had breached the law.

“I can now confirm we have received advice that there is insufficient evidence to establish that either the limousine driver or his employer breached any public health orders,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said in a statement.

The man had his first successful saliva swab on June 15 but health officials said he could have been infectious since June 11.

It was thought he had transported a crew of three from a FedEx freight plane and that could have been the source of his infection.

However, how he got infected has until this day not been solved and has raised questions over the state’s testing and vaccination regime for quarantine workers.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly being asked about why the man had not undergone daily saliva testing or had been vaccinated.

She has stressed that there are “strict guidelines” that all drivers, subcontractors or others had to follow. And that all those working in the quarantine system who are employed by NSW Police or NSW Health have been vaccinated.

As a result, police announced the investigation had been broadened to include a range of traffic and workplace health and safety offences.

Yesterday, the public health order to wear masks for those who come into contact with recent international arrivals in NSW was extended to include private drivers.

They are also now required to be vaccinated.