Ministerial Statement

STATUTES AMENDMENT (PENALTY ENFORCEMENT) BILL

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:28): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The amount of money owing by fine defaulters (being unpaid court fines and expiation fees) in South Australia is unacceptable. It is unacceptable for fine defaulters to refuse to pay when law-abiding citizens are feeling the pinch. Based on the amount of fines outstanding and the age of some of these fines, it is clear that the current system is not working. In acknowledging the need to address this issue, it is important that the extent of the problem is put into context.

As a starting point, we must differentiate between unpaid but not overdue debt and fine default, that is, those that are due. At present, South Australia has some $254 million under management with the Fines Payment Unit in courts. Of this amount, approximately:

$113 million is subject to active time payment arrangements;

$23 million is not yet due;

$75 million is overdue as it has not been paid within the time set by law and the debtor has not entered into time payment or deferral arrangement; and

$43 million is currently subject to an outsourced arrangement with a specialised debt recovery organisation.

The government has already instituted a process whereby recovery of serious long-term fine default has been outsourced to a specialist private fine collection agency. We will continue to pursue this approach where appropriate, which is at no cost to the taxpayers. In saying this, I share the concerns of those who believe more needs to be done, and today the government has taken an important step. Today I will table the draft Statutes Amendment (Penalty Enforcement) Bill 2012. This will make substantial amendments to the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 and the Expiation of Offences Act 1996. The purpose of tabling this draft bill is to present it for consultation before it is settled and introduced into parliament.

The purpose of the new law is to abolish the present court-based system of fines collection and to locate responsibility for fines recovery to a new separate body, the sole business of which is to collect fines—a penalty enforcement officer. In addition, the new law will remove current statutory obstacles to the recovery of fines and will increase flexibility for fine payers by adding new payment and collection options. This should assist in the level of recovery but also improve the ability of those who genuinely wish to repay their fine or expiation fees but have difficulty, for any reason, to do so.

The proposed penalty enforcement officer will have broad discretionary and coercive powers to use. These will include: the selling of a debtor's home or place of residence, garnishing of personal income, publishing of debtor names on a website as a means to locate them, suspending a debtor's occupational licence, suspending a debtor's driver's licence or preventing further registration, and clamping and impounding of vehicles. It would include the capacity to outsource and initiate fine amnesties. We are also proposing that interest be applied to some outstanding fines, as opposed to current arrangements for further one-off financial penalties.

In short, the bill will make it easier for those who want to pay their fines and comes down harder on those who are trying to avoid them.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Can you just be quiet for a minute, please. In finalising this model, we will be working closely with agencies within government who currently perform these duties and, of course, we are keen to hear feedback from the community. The bill will lie on the table for the next six weeks to enable interested parties to offer comment. I now table the bill.