The authorities have a dilemma: if they come down too heavily on those who break the coronavirus regulations, there is a risk that, in future, others might be reluctant to come forward if they feel symptoms.
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Hammer the antisocial transgressors with heavy fines and the risk is that less well-off people who think they may have COVID-19 will think twice about declaring their symptoms to the health authorities.
And naming and shaming breakers of the regulations creates the danger that people unworried about a fine but fearing public opprobrium would be slow in coming forward.
But the blatant flouting of obviously sensible rules by a bride and wedding guests in Sydney demands a rethink.
She and her family were caught on camera celebrating far from their home in the locked-down Northern Beaches. Twelve of the party have been fined.
NSW Police Minister David Elliott called their actions "a bastard act".
But a fine of $1000 each is not enough.
There is a dangerous tendency growing. Bronte Beach in Sydney was nothing short of a grand party on Christmas Day. The authorities think most of the 300 or so revellers were backpackers from overseas on visas.
Those visas could be revoked and the people expelled, according to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
It's time to send a strong signal. It would need the police to scour the many, many pictures on social media and identify the people who put the rest of us in danger. Some of the idiots involved are likely to publicise their antics on social media. They like that kind of publicity.
We think a different sort of publicity should be given to them - the publicity of being expelled for being stupid.
The transgressors should be informed that they no longer have permission to remain in Australia, ideally after debiting their bank accounts for the fare.
Australians might have become too casual because we seemed to have the pandemic under control. Smugness may have led to slackness. The outbreak in Melbourne was controlled with tough measures. The lessons learnt were used in Adelaide and the outbreak there was controlled quickly.
But the latest outbreak in Sydney is worrying because it seems to have spread far from the Northern Beaches, to Wollongong.
People need to be reminded that the risks remain. The pandemic hasn't been beaten.
Penalties need to be tougher, whether financial penalties or the penalty of shame.
They need to be high enough to hurt the young who may think that they won't suffer from the pandemic.
A wedding party would take on a different air if the bride spent a bit of time locked up after it. A honeymoon in jail would be something to think about.
Maybe it's time that transgressors feared the repercussions.
