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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-28 Daily Xml
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FINES PAYMENT UNIT

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the minister representing the Attorney-General regarding fine defaulters in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: A recent freedom of information request by myself concerning the efforts of the government to collect unpaid fines through the Fines Payment Unit revealed some very interesting data. In fact, one particular figure given with respect to the last financial year showed that the amount of fines imposed was $128 million, but of that amount only $74.8 million was actually collected. That means some $53.1 million, or 41.5 per cent of that amount, was not collected.

The request also revealed that the procedure under section 67 of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act of 1988 provides that, if the whereabouts of a fine defaulter are unknown, the Fines Payment Unit may publish the names of such defaulters in a newspaper in order to prompt the public to inform the Fines Payment Unit of that individual's whereabouts. My questions to the minister are:

1. Does he regard the performance of the Fines Payment Unit as satisfactory? If not, what is the reason for the failure to achieve a satisfactory result?

2. Can the minister explain why the procedure to publish in a newspaper the names of such fine defaulters whose whereabouts are unknown was not used even once during the last financial year, despite the fact that they have the power to do so?

3. Has the Fines Payment Unit been able to access information as to the address of fine defaulters from other state government agencies, such as the Registrar of Motor Vehicles or Housing SA, as they are entitled to do?

4. What is the fee or percentage to be paid to Dun & Bradstreet for the collection of debts from fine defaulters under the arrangements that he announced earlier this year?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:14): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions and will refer those to the Attorney-General in another place and bring back a response. However, I have some preliminary information I have been advised of; that is, the state government has contracted leading global credit reporting and collections company, Dun & Bradstreet, to chase fine dodgers and return millions of lost dollars to South Australian taxpayers. I am advised that the company will focus on locating people who are responsible for about $47 million of long-term outstanding fines and penalties which have so far proven to be unrecoverable.

Dun & Bradstreet will be paid a commission on the fines they collect, meaning that there will be no up-front cost to the government for its work seeking outstanding court-managed debt. I have been further advised that the contract is the first phase in the government's review of the state government fine collection, and proposals for fine collection reform are being finalised following a review last year which considered a comprehensive range of issues, including whether the management of fines payment should be removed from the courts. As I said, in terms of the detail of those questions asked by the honourable member, I will refer them to the Attorney-General and bring back a response.

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