STATUTES AMENDMENT (FINES ENFORCEMENT AND RECOVERY) BILL

Committee Stage

Bill recommitted.

Clauses 1 to 10 passed.

Clause 11.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I move:

Page 18, line 36 [clause 11, inserted section 70K(3)(a)]—After 'relation to' insert:

a person's primary place of residence or

This amends the bill to ensure that a person's primary place of residence would not be sold out under them or taken. Given the questions that were raised by myself in clause 1 to this bill, and the responses that this could impact upon somebody who had no responsibility for the debt—somebody who was a part-owner of the house, the child of somebody in the house, or a relative or friend living in that home—that being their primarily place of residence it could indeed make a very innocent person homeless. With that, I commend this amendment to the committee.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The government opposes this amendment. We do not support it. A number of enforcement actions and powers are open to the fines enforcement and recovery officer, and the government's preference is for people to manage their overdue debt in the first instance.

For debtors who persistently and intentionally evade paying an overdue debt, the fines enforcement and recovery officer is able to clamp a car or seize property and then sell those assets if the debtor does not pay the overdue amount. This enforcement action of selling the primary place of residence would only be considered after multiple reminders and enforcement actions has been exhausted, and in many cases as an action of last resort.

This enforcement action may be interpreted as harsh, but what the government says is that if you choose to ignore all attempts from the new fines unit to contact you and manage your debt, including opportunities to enter into payment arrangements which would allow you to pay a minimum amount that is negotiable with the fines enforcement and recovery officer, why should you, as the debtor, have the right to sit back and ignore your debts while owning a large asset such as your home? We believe that it is about getting the debtors' priorities right, so we oppose this amendment.

Amendment negatived; clause passed.

Remaining clauses (12 to 50) and title passed.

Bill reported without amendment.

Third Reading

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:44): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.