'Horrible': Mum shares anger after child's birthday disrupted by call to police
A Sydney mum is furious claiming someone called the police on her for holding a 13th birthday party for her son while the family are in self-isolation.
The mum of five, a resident of the Macarthur region in Sydney’s southwest, told Yahoo News Australia she planned on holding a big family barbecue for her son’s birthday on Thursday but had to cancel it.
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“So, we decided to ask family and friends who were going to be driving past our house to let me know and I would take my son outside for them to honk their horn and scream out happy birthday, we had some close family members stop and leave presents near the car for him,” she said.
The mum, who chose to remain anonymous, said she saw a Facebook post stating if a child is celebrating a birthday party while in quarantine you can put balloons on the letterbox. It lets strangers know and they can honk their horns if they wish.
“We had a great response of people driving past and honking that we did not even know,” the mum said.
But the party was disrupted when police showed up. Someone had called them under the impression the family had broken the social distancing laws and that children had been getting dropped off at the home for a party “all day”
Under current state law, NSW Police, in conjunction with the Public Health Act 2010, are allowed to hand penalties of $1000 for people not following social distancing measures.
“I’m a mother of five kiddies so at the time when they knocked on the door it most probably did sound like a party, and it did not help the kids had the karaoke machine on at the time,” she said.
“The officers were great, they asked me a few questions and were happy with my answers, they asked to talk to my son who understandably was a little intimated at first but they made him feel comfortable with some questions and then a happy birthday.”
She wrote on Facebook: “I don’t think some people realise the effect this current situation is taking on our kids, their lives have been dramatically disrupted enough as it is.”
Yahoo News Australia contacted NSW Police about her claims but they did not have a record of the visit.
‘Bloody dobbers, it’s un-Australian’
On Facebook, people were outraged at whoever called the cops.
“Bloody dobbers. It’s un-Australian,” one man wrote.
Another man called it “horrible”.
“I did the same thing for my son’s birthday and the looks I got from the people walking past was disgusting,” he wrote.
However, others suggested the police probably added some much-needed entertainment for the kids.
“Thought the cops would make the birthday more exciting,” one man wrote.
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