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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4673 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing)

Mr Speaker, it may be suggested that it is not appropriate that a driving licence and motor vehicle registration suspension scheme should apply where the fine default relates to an offence which is not a traffic or parking offence. However I do not believe that there must necessarily be a nexus between the type of offence and the method of enforcing the payment of the fine. We need to be pragmatic if we hope to achieve the objective of cutting the number of fine defaulters and the number of fine defaulters who are imprisoned. The philosophy underlying the suspension proposal, which forms the basis for the ACT fine enforcement system, involves the notion that if the Government is to grant a right - that is the right to drive on the Territory's roads - then members of the public who are in default of an undertaking to the Crown (payment of a fine) can have that right removed.

The sanction of driving licence or vehicle registration suspension is an attractive cost-effective enforcement alternative to imprisonment. It has been proven to be an extremely effective measure to encourage payment of infringement notice penalties and, in other jurisdictions, has been successful in prompting payment of court imposed fines. The new NSW fine recovery scheme due to commence on 1 January 1998 also utilises this very effective enforcement mechanism.

Mr Speaker, I propose that any suspension order (for driving licence or registration), imposed for default in payment under this scheme,

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