‘Indigenous-biased’ fines law scrapped in WA

Fines enforcement laws that imprisoned Aboriginal people with ‘systemic bias’ have been eliminated in Western Australia.

West Australian Attorney-General John Quigley. Picture: Matthew Poon

The West Australian government has rid itself of fines-enforcement laws that imprisoned Aboriginal people with “systemic bias” and led to the death of Aboriginal woman Miss Dhu in a police watch-house.

Attorney-General John Quig­ley says he is proud to have reformed­ an unfair law that disproportionately targeted the state’s indigenous citizens who were unable to pay fines and went to jail instead.

The Fines, Penalties and Infringeme­nt Notices Enforcement Amendment Bill passed both houses on Tuesday night, eight years after successive state governments vowed to significantly change the way fines were enforced and recovered.

Until the late-night passage of the bill, Western Australia was the only jurisdiction that permitted fine defaulters to spend time in prison to “cut out” fines at a rate of $250 a day for offences dealt with in a criminal court.

Mr Quigley said he was proud to have reformed an unjust law that had a “systemic bias”.

“It disproportionately affected indigenous West Australians who through no fault of their own can’t pay the fines. This reform was long overdue — we jail Aboriginal people at 70 per cent higher than the national average, and that’s a national scandal,” he said.

“People who are vulnerable or have mental health issues don’t get around to paying their fine and it’s costing the taxpayer a ­fortune. To put someone in jail to cut out a $2500 fine is 10 days in prison at a cost of $6000. That is economic madness.

“We are the last jurisdiction to make this step out of the dark ages, and I’m very proud to have brought this before parliament.”

He said 1300 outstanding warrants would be cancelled, which The Australian understands will lift the threat of imprisonment from 238 individuals.

One of the key changes will see imprisonment relegated to a sanction of last resort.

Fine debtors will be offered a variety of ways to pay court fines, including deductions from wages or community service with football clubs and shire councils, which will log the hours attended.

Prisoners serving sentences for other offences will be able to cut out their fines concurrently and leave jail with a clean slate.

The Australian brought attention to the disastrous consequence of fines enforcement as part of its investigation into the 2014 death of Miss Dhu.

Miss Dhu died in a remote police watch-house where she was serving out a $1000 fine.

Mr Quigley reserved his strongest condemnation for the fines imprisonment system by ­citing the impact it had on the 22-year-old Miss Dhu. He said the domestic violence victim with an infected broken rib had begged for help and was owed a duty of care, but police instead picked her up for fine default.

“Anyone who’s watched a person­ being dragged out of the back of a police van and dropped like a dead kangaroo … It’s just ­revolting. The police pick her up for an unpaid fine, her septicaemia is never dealt with and she dies in custody,” he said. “It would make a statue weep.”

Liberal premier Colin Barnett promised to reform the laws but had not delivered before he was swept out of office in March 2017.