Page 4595 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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the concession safety net and are not in receipt of direct government financial assistance.”
The report goes on to describe this cohort further:
They are normal, low to middle-income families and individuals who are living pay to pay but find themselves unable to cope financially with changes in their circumstances … often the changes are sudden, for example a large utility or medical bill.
Reducing the shock of a large fee or fine by smoothing out payment options, with even more time to pay or instalment options, would greatly benefit this cohort … Volunteering may also be a viable option to repay government fines.
I could not put it better myself. It is really great that the Greens did the work in the Seventh Assembly to make sure that this type of treatment is applied to people in receipt of fines for traffic and parking offences. That part of the system has been working well for seven years. Now it is time to extend that treatment to all fines.
It is hard to get a handle on how many people are struggling to pay fines. We do know, however, that fines in the ACT are not always being paid. Data provided by the government in response to a question on notice shows that between 1 July 2017 and 28 October this year, the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate had a total of 303 infringements that had not been paid, with 300 of these related to offences under the Domestic Animals Act 2000. The remaining three were issued under the Litter Act 2004. Each of these was cancelled after review.
The reason why people do not pay fines is not, to the best of my knowledge, recorded by the government. One can only guess, however, that the reason that many people do not pay is simply because they just cannot afford to. During the same period, Transport Canberra and City Services entered into 16 payment plans with fine recipients. While this is welcome, and it is very welcome, it is not because there is any obligation for the directorate to do this. As it stands, the Magistrates Court Act does not include any requirement to offer part-payment options or payment plans, although it does allow extensions of time.
It is noteworthy that during the past three years Transport Canberra and City Services has not pursued any of these infringements in the courts. Indeed, it appears that there are in fact significant numbers of unpaid fines owing to the territory. In 2016 the Canberra Times recorded that the ACT government had taken court action only twice for unpaid fines, in 2014 and 2015. The predecessor to Transport Canberra and City Services, territory and municipal services, issued 296 fines worth just under $73,000 in 2014 and 2015. Of these, a staggering 180 fines, worth approximately $51,000, went unpaid.
Perhaps one reason for the high number of unpaid fines is that the ACT does not have its own debt recovery unit. Another reason might be that there is an informal process of waiver taking place, and clearly that is the case in TCCS to some extent. That is something which obviously has been acting in a positive fashion. But perhaps it is just too difficult and not worth the bother for the government to pursue the issues in court.
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