Interstate freeloaders owe South Australia a fortune

Debtors outside SA owe our government and councils a staggering sum — one Victorian builder alone refuses to pay $624,000. But now our debt-chasers are getting creative.

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• SA’s 20 worst fine defaulters owed $3.1 million in 2017

People living interstate and companies based there owe the South Australian Government $24 million — including one Victorian who faces a bill of more than $620,000.

That is among $330 million in unpaid fines owed to State Government agencies — and the state’s Fines Unit is chasing a further $100 million on behalf of other organisations such as SA councils.

As the Attorney-General’s Department seeks to expand the ways it can collect the huge amount outstanding, The Advertiser can reveal just how much interstate debtors owe the state in fines.

Figures provided by the Fines Unit show that 12,816 alleged offenders identified as living interstate owe $24.071 million.

A debtor from Victoria, the state that has the highest number of offenders with 5284, owes SA $624,648 for breaching the Australian Consumer Law and Building Work Contractors Act, plus orders for compensation and victim of crime levies and fees.

Another from Queensland owes $154,088 for breaching the Building Work Contractors Act and traffic expiations.

The third-highest debtor, from the Northern Territory, owes $100,675 in penalties for failing to provide goods and services and honouring warranties — alongside traffic fines.

Nightly financial investigations are conducted by the Fines Unit to determine whether it can use its power to garnish funds from debtors’ bank accounts held within Australia.

They could soon be banned from driving on SA roads, as the unit works with interstate enforcement agencies to develop a process to withdraw the “privilege” from people who won’t pay overdue fines.

A department spokesman said this was one of a range of changes under consideration to help the unit reclaim unpaid fines.

“(The) unit recently acquired a contemporary and specialised debt recovery management system which supports the management of multiple debt streams and collection treatments,” he said.

The unit could also take over chasing civil debts owed to government agencies, such as overpaid salaries.

“Agencies who chose to refer overdue civil debt to the Fines Unit for recovery will enter an agreement with the chief recovery officer, and in some cases may transfer staff to the Fines Unit for the purpose of recovery of civil debts,” the spokesman said.

“These could be debts where the agency has raised an invoice for a service or product, and following a reminder notice where the debt remains unpaid, these civil debts may be eligible for referral to the Fines Unit for collection.”