The police interrupted a Catholic mass in Perth over the city's strict mask mandate.
Last week, the authorities stopped the service at St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Mount Hawthorn after receiving a report that some attendees were not wearing masks, the 7 News reported.
While five individuals were found unmasked, one had an exemption. So the rest were told to put them on.
A parishioner, identified only as Matthew, told a local radio station that the incident has left the churchgoers "a bit shaken."
"Everyone was pretty stunned, it was confronting. It's troubling to see the liturgy you love stopped by police," he disclosed.
Though the incident outraged many, Tim Costelloe, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth archbishop, expressed his support for the authorities.
"It is my hope that other ways can be found to deal with this delicate issue in future and my office stands ready to cooperate with the police in this matter. It is the formal and very public policy of the Archdiocese of Perth to do everything it can to facilitate compliance with all the government's requirements in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic," he declared.
"It is a matter of regret to me that the police were placed in a position which led them to take the action they did," Costelloe further stated.
The news outlet said that wearing mask indoors is currently required in Western Australia.
According to the region's local government website, people who are at home, with disabilities, doing "vigorous indoor exercise" and children in primary school or younger are exempted from the mask mandate.
Based on the data released by the Department of Health, the region recorded the lowest number of virus infection in the country since the pandemic began - only more than 1,700 cases.
Australia has been very strict in implementing precaution to fight the COVID-19 virus. The country only logged more than 2.3 million coronavirus cases and less than 5,000 deaths since the onset of pandemic.
Newsweek revealed that its tourism industry lost about $72 billion when the nation closed its borders in March 2020.
But on Monday, the country announced its reopening on February 21 for vaccinated visitors due to the decreasing number of virus infection.
"Australia will reopen to all fully vaccinated visa holders, welcoming the return of tourists, business travelers, and other visitors," the office of Prime Minister Scott Morrison reportedly said in the press release.
"With improving health conditions, including a recent 23 percent decline in hospitalisations due to COVID, the National Security Committee of Cabinet today agreed Australia is ready to further progress the staged reopening of our international border," the statement continued.
Some organizations, however, cautioned that it would take a significant amount of time before the country's tourism industry regains its vibrancy.
"It's not as simple as just turning on the tap and we see numbers of international tourists back where they were pre-COVID," Margy Osmond, CEO of the Sydney-based Tourism and Transport Forum, stated.
Despite the prediction, the news of the country's reopening still brought a lot of excitement to the tourism companies.
