Page 4250 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 October 1991
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'(3) Where a child fails to comply with an order imposing a fine, the Court may make an order committing the child to an institution or a State institution in a specified State or Territory until the fine is paid or the expiration of a specified period (not exceeding 40 days), whichever occurs first.'."
This provision was in the old Child Welfare Ordinance which was repealed in 1986 and replaced by the current Act. I think members opposite, and indeed some other members of this chamber, do not have a particularly good appreciation of how the Children's Court works.
Firstly, in relation to fines, I direct members' attention to section 52 of the principal Act. "Fine", of course, includes a pecuniary penalty, costs or other amounts of money ordered to be paid, which includes compensation under this particular Bill. Indeed, reference is made to that in Mr Connolly's amendments. It states quite clearly, in subsection (2), that, before a court makes an order imposing a fine on a child, the court shall have regard to the ability of the child to comply with the order. The court may, when making an order imposing a fine on a child, allow time to pay or direct payment of the fine to be made by instalments and, of course, a child against whom an order is made may come back to the court to apply for any variation.
Accordingly, there is a lot of flexibility there in the court. The court is not going to order a kid to pay a fine if the kid cannot afford to pay it, and if the kid's circumstances change the kid can come back to court for a variation. The court is very minded, in terms of juvenile justice, to be as fair as possible to the offender.
One also has to look at the ranges of penalties imposed by the Children's Court. Two-thirds of children who come before the Children's Court come there once only; you do not see them again. There is a wide range of offences which children commit, just as there is with adults. Quite often, first offenders are given some sort of recognisance, such as a bond to be of good behaviour. Quite often, that occurs for a second and third time, much to the chagrin of a lot of people in our community. For some offences fines are appropriate. Usually, traffic matters result in fines. Drink-driving matters, which are more substantial traffic matters, do, as well. This obviously applies to young people who are close to 18 - invariably, 17-year-olds, or maybe, in some instances, 16-year-olds who might be driving without a licence.
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