Page 1594 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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Then there is the question of police resources. I am sure that all members of the Assembly, regardless of their views on the question of police powers, would agree that requiring the police to spend their time serving warrants for unpaid parking fines is a wasteful use of police time. This Bill will overcome these problems by the introduction of civil enforcement of parking fines. Instead of drivers facing imprisonment for failure to pay a fine, they will face having their drivers licence or the registration of their vehicles cancelled.
The arrangements proposed in the Bill have many advantages over the present system. Cancellation of drivers licences or vehicle registration is a more equitable way of dealing with parking fines. This is especially the case in view of the priority that this Government places on social justice matters. There is also the question of deterring parking infringements in the first place and ensuring that fines are actually paid.
As I have already noted, the existing system, even with the threat of possible imprisonment, has clearly failed. The system of licence and registration cancellation proposed in the Bill will, I expect, have a major impact on the actual level of parking infringements committed. If the experience in New South Wales is any guide, we can also expect a significant reduction in the amount of unpaid parking fines. This is because the cancellation of the privilege to drive is a more appropriate response as it is a punishment that truly fits the crime and whose deterrent value is readily understood and accepted by motorists.
I now turn to the major features of the proposal and how it will operate. The most significant single change proposed in the Bill is that breaches of the parking provisions of part X of the Motor Traffic Act will no longer be criminal offences. They will instead become prohibitions, the contravention of which will be dealt with by the ultimate administrative sanction of licence or registration cancellation, instead of a fine or gaol term imposed by a magistrate.
Motorists who receive parking infringements will not see any change provided they pay the fine within 14 days of the notice being issued. Failure to pay within 14 days will result in liability for an additional administrative charge of $20. This charge offsets the cost of administration follow-up action necessary to recover unpaid fines and to encourage infringers to pay promptly. As the administrative charge is paid by the infringer, follow-up costs are borne by infringers and not by the ACT taxpayers generally.
In the last financial year nearly 80,000 final notices had to be sent out because almost two-thirds of our parking offenders failed to pay their fines promptly. We are therefore looking at a considerable saving to the ACT taxpayers who at present bear the entire cost of recovering
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