Media Release
Embargoed until 1.00 a.m. (AEDT), Friday 30 May 2014
Around 40% of Victorians and 36% of companies who receive court fines fail to pay them, new research has revealed. And of the infringement notices issued by agencies such as police and local governments, over 700,000 penalties each year remain unpaid (around 6 million infringement notices were issued in 2012–13).
A Sentencing Advisory Council report released today proposes a range of new sanctions to deal with the large number of fines and infringement penalties that are unpaid and unenforced, valued at well over $400 million a year.
The council’s report, The Imposition and Enforcement of Court Fines and Infringement Penalties in Victoria, has found that the current system is fragmented and creates avoidable obstacles to payment and enforcement.
Shouldn’t Pay, Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay
The Council examined the use and enforcement of fines and infringements according to different types of recipient, including those who ‘shouldn’t pay’ (e.g. people who have a valid defence to an infringement notice), those who ‘can’t pay’ (e.g. people experiencing financial hardship), and those who ‘won’t pay’ (e.g. people or companies who can pay but deliberately avoid payment and enforcement).
The report calls for stronger enforcement options for people and companies who can afford to pay but refuse. At the same time, the report calls for a wider range of options for payment and discharge by disadvantaged people, aimed at allowing their early exit from the system, and preventing the most vulnerable Victorians from having to go to court.
49 Recommendations for Reform
The report says the three main principles for an effective system of fines and penalties are fairness, compliance, and credibility. Guided by these principles, the Council has made 49 recommendations, including:
- creating a centralised body to case manage and enforce fine and penalty recipients;
- harmonising enforcement sanctions and extending a broader range of sanctions for the enforcement of court fines, including licence suspension, detention and sale of vehicles, seizure and sale of personal property, attachment of earnings and debts, and registration of a charge over, and sale of, real estate;
- consulting with the Commonwealth Government on overseas travel restrictions for people with outstanding default warrants;
- taking outstanding warrants into account during the taxi driver/operator accreditation process;
- introducing a scheme to reduce the large volume of tolling infringement penalties accrued by offenders who won’t pay, by taking them to court earlier;
- making directors personally liable for payment of infringement penalties or court fines incurred by a corporation;
- consulting with the Commonwealth Government on the collection of fines and penalties by the Australian Tax Office;
- improving options for vulnerable and disadvantaged people, such as work and development permits (allowing eligible people to complete education, treatment, or training programs as a way of discharging fines and penalties), amending the definition of ‘special circumstances’ for those people who ‘shouldn’t pay’, and providing a reduced infringement penalty for those people experiencing financial hardship who ‘can’t pay’ and are entitled to government concessions;
- reducing infringement penalty amounts for children to 50% of the adult amount; and
- strengthening safeguards so that imprisonment is a penalty of ‘last resort’ for failure to pay fines, reserved for those people who can, but refuse, to pay.
Commenting on the current system, Council Chair Emeritus Professor Arie Freiberg said, ‘If a court fine or infringement penalty is not paid, then no sanction has been imposed, and the purposes of the sentence or penalty – such as punishment or deterrence – are not fulfilled.
‘The reforms recommended by the Council seek to improve the fairness and enhance the credibility of fines and infringements in Victoria and increase compliance with these important sanctions,’ he said.
The Council’s 432-page report, produced in response to terms of reference issued by the Attorney- General, presents comprehensive data on the use and enforcement of court fines and infringement penalties. The report is part of a larger fine reform project that has seen the recent introduction into parliament of the Fines Reform Bill 2014, which has proposed a number of reforms to the fine enforcement system.
