Police will appeal a landmark court decision that found a strip search at a music festival was unlawful.
Raya Meredith was forced to remove her clothing and tampon at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass festival at Byron Bay, a move the NSW Supreme Court ruled unlawful before awarding her $93,000.
That a drug detection dog sniffed towards the 27-year-old did not legally justify the search, Justice Dina Yehia said in September when delivering her judgment in the class action case joined by more than 3000.
On Thursday, NSW Police confirmed they would appeal the verdict, a move Premier Chris Minns backed stating strip searches are "still an important measure to keep people safe".
After a two-year delay, the NSW government conceded the search of Ms Meredith was not lawful after initially defending it, although the admission did not extend to the wider class action.
"There were thousands of others who were searched in similar circumstances to Raya ... hundreds of those searches occurred at the same festival Raya attended and were undertaken by the same police officers," senior associate William Zerno from the law firm running the suit, Slater and Gordon, said.
"It is a matter for the state to explain why it is arguing searches undertaken on the same basis as Raya's were lawful when it admitted the unlawfulness of Raya's search."
Mr Minns conceded stricter rules, regulations and training must be applied to strip searches, but backed the police force's need to use them.
"Police are caught in a difficult position where drugs are still illegal … particularly the supply of drugs at music festivals, and they've got a responsibility to keep people safe," he said.
"I believe they'll use that power, if it was granted to them via appeal, judiciously, not in a broad, sweeping way, and they'll make sure that they are fully trained."
On Tuesday, a report stemming from a drug summit commissioned by Mr Minns' government recommended pausing the use of detection dogs and strip searches during a drug-checking trial at music festivals.
It also said leaders should consider extending this to all music festivals as strip searches could lead to psychological trauma and detection dogs created fear that could lead to "panic consumption" and increase the risk of overdose.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley dismissed that suggestion and said both detection dogs and strip searches remained "important tools" for police.
Ms Meredith was made to remove all her clothing, including her underwear and tampon, in a make-shift cubicle that did not offer privacy, before a male police officer walked in while she was naked from the waist down.
She slated the police's decision to appeal the verdict.
"It's a needless waste of resources, and with the music festival season underway in NSW, I'd hate to think that the abuse of these extreme powers by police that I experienced might continue," she said.
