Tasmanian government criticised over decision to scrap name and shame fine list

The state government has been criticised for pulling down the country’s only public name and shame fine list, days after public pressure to tighten privacy reached boiling point.

Parking fine. Photo: Brett Wortman

The state government has been criticised for pulling down the country’s only public name and shame fine list, days after public pressure to tighten privacy reached boiling point.

Public access to the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Service (MPES) – which made available the details of people owing money to the Tasmanian government – was blocked on January 19.

But despite increasing public pressure from Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff and MPs to address privacy concerns, the lists were scrapped.

Greens MP Dr Rosalie Woodruff last week said identity theft, fraud, scams, personal tracking, ‘doxing’ and surveillance were now a “serious concern”.

No public announcement was made by the Department of Justice – who hosted the MPES list – following the removal of the pages.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff who promised to tighten up privacy surrounding the list.

It was this move that drew the criticism of Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service chair Greg Barns SC, who pulled into question the government’s lack of transparency.

“It seems to have been removed without indicating to the community that it was going to review it, or terminate the application of the list,” Mr Barns said.

“And the community is entitled to know.”

He said he hoped the move meant the list was to be put to bed.

“It’s great if this list is going to be consigned to the dustbin of history … but the government need to be transparent,” he said.

“Don’t just take it down in the middle of the night.”

But Premier Jeremy Rockliff did warn he would tighten up privacy surrounding the list.

“I don’t like it, and we’ll fix it,” he told a press conference last weekend.

“I would encourage people to of course pay back their fines. I would always encourage people to pay back their fines, (but) this is not the way to do it, and we’ll fix it.”

Tasmania was the only jurisdiction in Australia to put such a penalty list into practice.

The list was updated weekly with details including the names and addresses of people which was updated weekly with details including the names and addresses of people with outstanding fines.

Greg Barns SC, chair of the Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service.

On January 24, the ‘publication of name’ tab on the site was still present, but clicking on it took the user to a secure login page.

By the morning of January 25, the ‘publication of name’ tab was fully removed from the site.

At the time of writing, the site still listed that a failure to act on an enforcement order may result in the publication of their name, address, driver licence and penalty details as a sanction.

A Department of Justice spokesman confirmed the publication of the fines list was no longer available through the MPES site.

“The list is only accessible to authorised departmental staff within the MPES unit,” the spokesman said.

“The department is reviewing its processes for the collection of monetary penalties in accordance with the Monetary Penalties Enforcement Act 2005,

“As much as possible, the focus is on making it easier for people to meet their obligations for the payment of monetary penalties to reduce the need to apply the sanctions specified in the Act.”

Originally published as Tasmanian government criticised over decision to scrap name and shame fine list