Page 2665 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014

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administration of penalties and enforcement of the criminal law. Ensuring that the relative weight of penalties is maintained is also linked to supporting the deterrence of crime and the value of financial penalties. The increase of $10 for an individual and $50 for a corporation, or approximately a seven per cent increase, will roughly align the value of a penalty unit in the ACT with the increased penalty unit values in Victoria and the Northern Territory for the 2014-15 financial year.

The new values signify the maximum financial penalty that a court can impose on an individual or a corporation. But, as Mr Rattenbury has already pointed out, the court is not obliged to do so in every case. For example, a court will consider the personal circumstances of an offender, which can include their ability to pay any financial penalties. Fines can be limited or alternative penalties, such as non-conviction orders or good behaviour orders, can be made.

The government understands that there may still be some members of the community who will struggle to pay court imposed fines. This is why the government has taken steps to help those who are currently experiencing difficulty and who may experience difficulty in paying a court imposed fine. A new scheme for court imposed fines commenced on 1 July 2010 to provide an easier and more effective way of recovering fines and ensuring that there are consequences to fine defaulters who do not or cannot pay their court imposed fines.

The scheme introduced a new tiered system of alternatives to allow a person to pay a court imposed fine, including through an earnings redirection order, a financial institution deduction order, a property seizure and sale order, or participation in community service work. Prior to this new scheme, there was no alternative to imprisonment for someone who could not pay their court imposed fine.

It is important to point out that the proposed penalty unit increase will not automatically result in an increase in infringement notice values. Current policy is that any increase in the value of infringement notice schemes should be addressed on a case-by-case basis through amending regulations made by the executive and tabled in the Assembly.

Additionally, it is worth highlighting that this amended penalty unit value will not be retrospective, which means that any offences or current proceedings for offences which occurred before the date of this bill’s implementation will not be affected by the increase. I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.

Bill agreed to.


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