❓ The Attorney General reports a significant reduction in imprisonment for fine default and increased fine collection due to new initiatives like Centrepay and a warrant recall team. The initiatives are considered a success.
AnsweredQoN 412Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
UNPAID FINES - DEFAULTERS
Last year, the state government implemented a new system to collect unpaid fines and reduce the number of fine defaulters sent to prison. Will the Attorney General inform the house of the progress of this excellent initiative? Mr J.A. McGINTY
Last year, the state government implemented a new system to collect unpaid fines and reduce the number of fine defaulters sent to prison. Will the Attorney General inform the house of the progress of this excellent initiative? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Maylands for the question and her interest in what has been a great success story. Since May last year, the number of people going to prison for fine default has dropped by 89 per cent. Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Maylands for the question and her interest in what has been a great success story. Since May last year, the number of people going to prison for fine default has dropped by 89 per cent. Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
I thank the member for Maylands for the question and her interest in what has been a great success story. Since May last year, the number of people going to prison for fine default has dropped by 89 per cent. Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
[Applause.]
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Maylands for the question and her interest in what has been a great success story. Since May last year, the number of people going to prison for fine default has dropped by 89 per cent. Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
I thank the member for Maylands for the question and her interest in what has been a great success story. Since May last year, the number of people going to prison for fine default has dropped by 89 per cent. Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
Mr R.F. Johnson interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys should just listen. He will be pleasantly surprised. In 2004-05, 1 807 fine defaulters were imprisoned in Western Australian jails; between 1 July 2005 and 30 April 2006, there were only 202. That is 1 600 fewer people locked up for not paying a speeding ticket or a parking fine. A potential 34 664 default days served in prison will be avoided as a consequence of offenders entering into payment arrangements, or doing work and development orders. The average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about $240 per day. That compares with about $21 per day to supervise an offender in the community. At the same time, the collection of money that is owed by way of fines has increased by seven per cent. Through a scheme called Centrepay, people can have an amount deducted from their social security benefits on a regular basis until their fine is paid off. The average Centrepay payment is $29 a fortnight. More than $1 million has been collected through the Centrepay scheme so far this financial year, and, on average, 53 new customers are registered with Centrepay each week. A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
A new warrant recall team was also established in May 2005 to target the most serious repeat fine defaulters. The warrant recall team now has 2 709 hard-end fine defaulters on its database, with a total fines value of about $11 million. As at 6 June 2006, the outstanding fine payments in 1 769 of those cases have been resolved, with a total value of $7 million. The warrant recall team is in the process of placing 911 fine defaulters on payment plans or work and development orders to resolve fines that have a total value of $4.2 million, and another 29 cases are being pursued. The warrant recall team expects to recover all but $500 000 worth of the outstanding fines on the database. These fines will be listed for write-off for this financial year either because the offender has died, has left the country or is a long-term prisoner or because it is uneconomical to pursue. This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
This is an identified problem in the justice system. We were imprisoning far too many people for fine default. The government has come up with innovative ways of tackling this problem and they are a resounding success. The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
The SPEAKER : Before I give the call to the next member, I acknowledge in the public gallery, not in my gallery, the presence of Antonio Cosano, the Spanish Ambassador to Australia. [Applause.]
[Applause.]
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