Opinion: Queensland’s unpaid fines spiral out of control — repeat defaulters should be jailed

REPEAT fine defaulters should be sent to jail. Their assets, including their homes, should be seized and sold to reduce the colossal debt, writes Des Houghton.

Reoffenders should have their assets taken.

BLEEDING hearts from both sides of the political divide have unwittingly created a class of swindlers who refuse to pay their fines yet go unpunished.

Queensland Under Treasurer Jim Murphy says the non-payment of fines is threatening the integrity of the Queensland judicial system.

His warning comes in a response to a report by the Audit Office showing the value of Queensland’s unpaid fines has jumped 54 per cent — from $775 million to $1.2 billion — since 2013.

More than 442,000 debts have been described by Auditor-General Brendan Worrall as “unrecoverable”.

And it is set to get worse.

A softly, softly approach will allow fine defaulters to have their debts wiped out on the word of social workers.

I fear we are creating a bludgers’ paradise, if we haven’t already.

There are now 4.2 million unpaid fines at our debt collection agency, SPER — the State Penalties Enforcement Registry.

The $1.2 billion in unpaid fines is enough for a new children’s hospital, a major dam, or the start of a new highway to the Coast.

Around a third of offenders don’t bother to pay their fines on time.

In his report to Parliament, Worrall says there are now 718,890 “potentially unenforceable” fines.

He says there is insufficient information to begin enforcement action because there are no date of birth, valid address or car registration details available.

The fines are not just for anti-social drivers caught speeding. There are fines for littering and weapons offences. There are court-ordered fines and compensation orders. Above, speed cameras on the underside of the bridge at the Ipswich Motorway turn-off. Photo: Adam Head

Worryingly, almost 60 per cent of the fines referred to SPER are for people who have a pre-existing SPER debt.

As Worrall points out: “Some cannot afford to pay their fine; others wilfully choose not to.”

There are a staggering 776,000 repeat offenders who have at least five unpaid fines. Some have more than a dozen. Some debts are more than a decade old.

Just over half of all infringement notices issued by police were not paid on time and had to be referred to SPER.

And police, the Transport Department and the courts seem to be turning a blind eye to the crisis. Worrall says the Queensland Police Service, its Traffic Camera Office and the Department of Transport “make no attempt to enforce the infringement”.

“The entities do not consider it is their responsibility to recover an infringement once it has been issued,” he says.

The fines are not just for anti-social drivers caught speeding. There are fines for littering and weapons offences. There are court-ordered fines and compensation orders. There are fines for train fare evasion, not wearing a seat belt, double parking, tolling infringements and marine infringements.

And thanks to camera technology, more offenders are getting caught.

There has been a huge jump in the number of people neglecting or refusing to pay to use new toll roads. Recovering debt is too slow.

Worrall complains that it takes an average of 229 days from the time a person drives through a toll to the time SPER receives the referral of the unpaid infringement.

“The practice of referring unpaid tolling infringements to SPER is inefficient,” he says.

He adds that it is generally more than 109 days before SPER commences enforcement action on unpaid fines referred to it by police, the Traffic Camera Office or the Transport Department.

SPER already has the power to seize and sell a debtor’s personal property. However, not a single house has been seized and sold to pay a debt.

And I’m told that only one person has been jailed for not paying up. He amassed $20,000 in fines and had 40 outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Worrall warns that more debt will have to be written off.

Jim Murphy Under Treasurer, above, agrees with Brendan Worrall. “SPER debt is not the same as consumer or commercial debt. It is a penalty debt and, as such, its effective management is essential to the integrity of the justice system.”

“In many cases, pursuing old debts and those that lack sufficient information is uneconomical to the state.”

He adds: “To maintain the integrity of fines, timely and effective enforcement is critical.

“Delays … diminish the effectiveness of fines in the long term.’’

Under Treasurer Jim Murphy agrees. “SPER debt is not the same as consumer or commercial debt. It is a penalty debt and, as such, its effective management is essential to the integrity of the justice system.

“While the cost of enforcement is an important factor in rationing scarce resources, SPER must also take into account the impact of its decisions on the integrity of fines as a viable punitive option.”

I’m afraid wishy-washy laws passed last year gave fine defaulters an easy way out.

They only have to claim ill health via drug or alcohol abuse and they can have their debts wiped if they agree to attend counselling.

Of course, there are some people who cannot pay their debts because of genuine financial hardship due to serious illness, a disability or domestic violence.

But SPER says this group is a tiny minority.

It’s hard not to conclude that the vast majority of fine evaders are simply anti-social bludgers and that there is no great urgency in government to make them pay.

Repeated fine defaulters should be sent to jail. Their assets, including their homes, should be seized and sold at a public auction to defray costs and reduce the colossal debt.

A zero-tolerance approach would encourage offenders to pay their fines. It may even convince them that dangerous speeding and fare-dodging and parking in bus stops is simply not worth the trouble.

WHEEL CLAMP BLITZ

BE WARNED. The state debt collector, SPER, has escalated its wheel-clamping campaign to force offenders to pay overdue fines.

“If, after having their vehicle immobilised for 14 days, the debtor doesn’t pay their fine and certain other conditions have been met, SPER can seize and sell the vehicle as payment toward the fine debt.

“SPER has recently had some notable success using this enforcement action.”

Last year it immobilised 37 vehicles, seized 43 and sold 27. It collected $1.6 million. It’s a start.

PS ...

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