Page 3954 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
traffic fines has no relevance to gaol sentences for non-payment of fines. Gaol sentences may be imposed for non-payment of fines which have been ordered following conviction in a court. Of themselves traffic infringements do not attract court convictions. On-the-spot fines for traffic offenders were introduced in 1983 as a way of keeping minor offenders against the Motor Traffic Act of 1936 out of the court systems and leaving the courts clear to deal with offences of a more serious nature. A person who does not pay an on-the-spot traffic fine may - and I repeat may - receive a summons and if found guilty may, under the Motor Traffic Act, receive a monetary fine of up to $500 for the offence. The offence is that of not paying the traffic infringement notice that they were first presented with. It is this fine that is referred to in the Magistrates Court Act of 1930 where gaol sentences for non-payment of fines is addressed. As I say, the maximum penalty for that, Mr Connolly, is $500; something which this legislation affects in no way whatsoever.
If a person then does not pay the court imposed fine, under the Magistrates Court Act a magistrate may impose a gaol sentence, although I am advised that the usual procedure is to allow the offender more time to pay and gaol sentences are very rare for non-payment of fines. But they do exist. There is no question about that.
Mr Connolly: And there is a formula.
MR DUBY: There is a formula; by all means. But are you listening? I do not think you are. The fact is that the penalty for not paying the traffic infringement notice has nothing to do with the penalty that was originally imposed with the TIN. The maximum penalty for not paying the traffic infringement notice, under that Magistrates Court Act 1930, is $500. This legislation in no way affects that penalty. This legislation in no way affects the amount of time a person may be sentenced to spend in gaol as a result of not paying an infringement notice.
I think you have been well and truly caught, Mr Connolly. Unfortunately you listened to what Mrs Grassby had to say. We all know the results of that. The simple fact is that you are dead wrong, and there is no way around it. I will reiterate that fines for traffic infringements are not court imposed fines, and, unless an offender is convicted in a court of law under the Magistrates Courts Act of 1930 and then does not, or cannot, pay the penalty for the conviction, the possibility of a gaol sentence does not arise.
So, any time you want to put out a press statement, Mrs Grassby, that you got it wrong, and you got it wrong the first time, and any time you want to put out a press statement, Mr Connolly, that you realise now that what Mrs Grassby told you in the first place was wrong - - -
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .