Page 4956 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
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these crises is the arrival of a bill—it could be an electricity bill or a fridge breakdown or it could be a government bill like a parking fine or a rates notice.
Starting with fines, their primary purpose is to encourage compliance with the law. On the face of it having a system of set fines results in the law being applied equally to all citizens. But the reality is that a system of set fines does not recognise the unequal capacity of people to pay. People on higher incomes are able to pay fines without much impact on their finances, whereas people on low incomes are disproportionately affected.
It is not just the immediate financial impact of a fine on someone struggling financially that is the issue; fines can lead to a negative cycle, with long-term consequences for a whole family. Last year 12 per cent of traffic fines were not paid on time but 87 per cent of people charged with driving an unregistered vehicle did not pay those fines on time. This suggests that people who cannot afford to pay their rego then get hit with a fine they cannot pay. This then leads to a drivers licence being cancelled.
Currently 81 per cent of drivers licence removals are the result of unpaid fines. It is not because you did not drive safely—it is because of unpaid fines. It is likely this punishment is being shouldered disproportionately by people who have low incomes or who are otherwise disadvantaged. We must remember that removing licences mean people often cannot hold down a job, do the shopping or pick up their kids from school. These are serious consequences with long-term impacts.
Currently two programs assist low income Canberrans to pay their traffic and parking fines. The first allows people to pay in instalments. This was introduced by my former colleague Amanda Bresnan in the Seventh Assembly. The second, the work development program, allows people to work off a fine by making an alternative contribution to the community or getting help with the problems in their life that may have led to the fine. They can work at not-for-profits such as Ted Noffs or Vinnies, attend workshops run by Care Financial Counselling Service, or participate in a residential drug and alcohol program.
As I said, these were the idea of former Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan. They are a great start but we need to go further. I am calling on the government to investigate another alternative to our current system. In Finland, for example, speeding fines are linked to wages. A day fine system is used based on an offender’s capacity to pay—generally about half their daily income. Then based on the severity of the offence a fine is issued in days.
There are options which are administratively simpler but which are an improvement over the current approach. For example, the government could set a fine for a particular offence but then give people the opportunity to present their most recent tax statement in order to claim a concessional rate. In the UK a three-tier system was adopted last year for fines for serious traffic offences where an offender must attend court.
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