Page 6149 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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parking fines, a lot of effort was put into doing things better, and that effort continues under this Labor Administration. There is no simple answer.
Mr Jensen's suggestion is that a notice must be personally served on every person before registration is cancelled. We would be employing an army of process servers, and all people would have to do is not answer the door. That would be an absurd situation. We hear the fact that the person may be overseas. We hear that people may have moved or that their address may not be correct. There is a legal requirement for people to notify the Registrar of Motor Vehicles of any change of address, so anyone whose current address is not on the computer is in breach of the law. Personal notice is absurd; it would cost a fortune.
The purpose of this type of legislation, when it was first introduced for parking fines, was to stop people going to gaol for unpaid fines. It was my colleague Mrs Grassby who introduced that originally, I believe. It was in the context of keeping people out of gaol for these minor, trifling offences. It was shortly after this legislation was introduced here that we saw the appalling treatment of Mr Partlic in New South Wales, who was serving time in Long Bay and who was set upon, bashed and rendered a quadriplegic when he was doing time for non-payment of a parking fine. So, the basis for this legislation is to keep people out of gaol.
There may be cases in which people claim that they were unaware that their licences had been cancelled. You get a notification to pay your fine which says, "If you do not pay your fine the sanction is that you may lose your licence". If you do not pay your fine you get another letter saying, "You are beyond time. You cop your $25 administration fee for being late, and you have another 14 days to pay up or you will lose your registration". That is an efficient and fair system. We will constantly look at methods of streamlining Parking Operations. We have a new computer system coming on stream on 1 January.
But, personal service, I must say to members, is not a realistic alternative. People are under that obligation to keep the registrar advised of changes of address.
Mr Stevenson: The registrar accepts post office boxes and then does not use them.
MR CONNOLLY: Again, people have an obligation to look at their post office boxes. The notice will be sent to the address that is on your registration. If you do not live at that address any more or if you do not check your mailbox, I am afraid that it is bad luck.
Mr Jensen: What about an acknowledgment, Terry?
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