Simon Power
National Party Law & Order Spokesman

29 December 2005

Fines collection system not working properly

National’s Law & Order spokesman, Simon Power, says in order to get the road toll down repeat offenders need to know that their fines will not be wiped by the courts.

“The fines collection system is not working properly, leaving judges to wipe more than $4 million in fines in April 2005 alone.

“If the road toll is going to come down, stricter penalties, and the enforcement of those penalties, must be considered. At the moment offenders are being treated far too lightly.”

Figures obtained by National under the Official Information Act show that in April 2005, judges wiped $4.4 million of fines – a 50% increase over the $2.9 million at the same time last year.

“Overdue fines stand at $341 million and serial non-payers are treating the system as a joke,” says Mr Power.

“These people are coming in front of the courts time and time again, with judges faced with limited options to deal with them.

“They can either issue further fines or wipe the fines and sentence them to community service or jail.

“We all know community service is ineffective because it is not adequately policed. And, with the present prison muster crisis, putting them in prison is just putting pressure on other parts of the justice system.

“If we don’t start enforcing punishments given by our law and order agencies we risk our justice system becoming a joke.”

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