Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:55): I move:

That this house, in accordance with standing order 10.01, requires the Leader of the Government to table in the Council, within four weeks of this resolution being agreed to, all documents produced by the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria that outline the:

(1)   total number of current imprisonment warrants issued by the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria following default on an instalment order made under section 160(4)(b) of the Infringements Act 2006 or section 165A(2)(b) of the Fines Reform Act 2014;

(2)   number of warrants relating to unpaid toll infringements and the number relating to other infringement notices for each local government area.

This documents motion is about recent data on fines and infringement notices from the Magistrates’ Court. Imprisonment for unpaid fines is unjust. It punishes people for poverty rather than for wrongdoing. The risk of imprisonment for failing to pay a toll fine is significant. Magistrates’ Court data shows that up to 83 per cent of fines in enforcement warrant cases are toll fines. Victorians who cannot afford to pay their fines should not be punished with imprisonment. The evidence is clear that imprisonment and even the threat of imprisonment cause severe and avoidable harm to vulnerable Victorians and their families and communities. That harm falls particularly heavily on First Nations people and other marginalised Victorians.

Access to de-identified data on imprisonment warrants for unpaid fines, including postcode and demographic information, is essential to understanding who is being subjected to imprisonment and whether the fines system is disproportionately affecting people experiencing disadvantage. This data would allow the government to identify patterns, including where warrants are concentrated and which communities are most affected, and assess whether people are being imprisoned because they are unwilling to pay or because they are simply unable to pay. Without this information it is difficult to determine whether the fines system is operating fairly, proportionately and where and as intended or whether it is effectively punishing people for poverty and disadvantage. Victoria does have safeguards intended to prevent vulnerable people from being imprisoned for unpaid fines, but those safeguards are failing in practice. Many people affected by these orders incurred these fines during periods of family violence, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency or homelessness – circumstances that would enable them to avoid imprisonment.

This information should help Fines Victoria to target the use of its existing powers under the Fines Reform Act 2014 to distinguish between people who cannot pay and those who are willing to pay. By identifying communities and cohorts experiencing high levels of imprisonment warrants, Fines Victoria could undertake more proactive reviews of individual circumstances, including whether fines were incurred during periods of family violence, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency or homelessness. This would support a fines system that uses imprisonment as a genuine last resort rather than punishing people whose circumstances mean that they are unable to pay. This would allow the government to understand the size of the debts involved and whether people are being imprisoned for relatively small amounts. It can also ensure we look at the repayment capacity of Victorians living in poverty and take into consideration cases where repayment plans are so low that debts could take decades or even centuries to clear.

Access to this data will give the government a clearer picture of who is being impacted and where the system is failing. It can help inform better policy and ensure fines are recovered in a way that is fair, proportionate and effective, without punishing Victorians simply because they cannot afford to pay. Data can provide a much clearer picture of a person’s circumstances, income, payment history and engagement with the fines system. This information, if used appropriately, could help identify people who are experiencing financial hardship or other forms of vulnerability, rather than simply treating every unpaid fine as a failure or refusal to pay. For a person with the financial capacity to pay, enforcement may be appropriate, but for someone living in poverty or experiencing homelessness, family violence, disability or other significant disadvantage, escalating enforcement action may simply make an already difficult situation much worse. We should be using the data available to government to make the fines system smarter, fairer and more targeted. Understanding data can help the government fix a system that should recover money, not punish vulnerable Victorians for being unable to pay.

 Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (11:00): As per convention, the government will not oppose this short-form documents motion. Since entering government in 2014 Labor has worked to make Victoria’s fines system fairer, more proportionate and more understanding of individual circumstances. We recognise that while fines play an important role in enforcing the law, the system must also account for financial hardship, vulnerability and a person’s capacity to pay. That is why Labor has implemented significant reforms that have expanded access to payment arrangements, strengthened protections for vulnerable Victorians and created more pathways for people to address fine debt before enforcement action escalates, keeping the core principles of enforcement in place while also understanding the broader context of individual infringements.

The Fines Reform Act 2014 was the first step in Labor’s work to build a fairer, more compassionate and more modern fine system in Victoria. The reforms recognised a fundamental reality that there is a difference between people who refuse to pay a fine and people who are simply unable to pay. For too long vulnerable Victorians could find themselves caught in an enforcement system that did not adequately account for hardship or personal circumstances. We set out to change that. Through the establishment of Fines Victoria and a stronger focus on payment arrangements, early intervention and alternative pathways, the reforms created a system that is more focused on engagement and resolution than punitive enforcement.

Perhaps the clearest example of this approach is the family violence scheme, which was introduced as part of the Fines Reform Act. Labor recognised that many victim-survivors can incur fines as a direct consequence of coercion, control and abuse perpetrated against them. A fair system cannot ignore those realities. Through the family violence scheme, victim-survivors have a pathway to have those circumstances properly considered, ensuring that they are not unfairly penalised for conduct that arises from family violence. By embedding safeguards such as these we have strived to make Victoria’s fines system more human, more sympathetic and more responsive to the lived experience of vulnerable Victorians, while maintaining the enforcement principles necessary to uphold respect for the law and confidence in the justice system.

The government continued their reform agenda in 2018, making further changes to ensure the fines system remains fair, this time focused on toll infringements. The tolling compliance and enforcement Act 2018 introduced a more proportionate enforcement framework for unpaid tolls, including a cap on the number of infringements that could arise from multiple tolling offences within a prescribed period. It was another practical step towards a system that encourages compliance while ensuring enforcement remains fair and reasonable.

Labor has always sought to get the balance right when it comes to fines enforcements. Some advocate for a purely punitive approach, regardless of the circumstance; others would remove meaningful enforcement mechanisms altogether. We reject both extremes. Our reforms have been guided by the principles of enforcement and compassion – they are not mutually exclusive. Victorians should be supported to pay the fines they owe wherever possible whilst preserving the integrity of the system. This is the balance Labor has pursued since 2014, and it is the balance that we will continue to uphold. Victorians know that if they break the law, yes, they may receive a fine, but they should also know that they have a government that believes fairness matters and in understanding personal circumstances and also a government that is committed to a justice system that treats people with the dignity that all Victorians deserve. Can I finish my remarks by thanking Ms Payne for bringing this motion before us, and I look forward to other contributions on this motion later this morning.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (11:04): Notice of motion 1585 in Ms Payne’s name is a documents order that seeks the following:

(1)   total number of current imprisonment warrants issued by the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria following default on an instalment order made under section 160(4)(b) of the Infringements Act 2006 or section 165A(2)(b) of the Fines Reform Act 2014;

(2)   number of warrants relating to unpaid toll infringements and the number relating to other infringement notices for each local government area.

This is an important piece of information. We strongly support the provision of this information and this documents motion. The motion seeks the information within four weeks of its resolution. I do not hold much hope that it will be provided, given the way the government has been behaving with documents in the recent period.

There is an issue with the tolling arrangements in this state. The opposition is very concerned about them. There are people who have a range of hardship cases. Of course there is an important role for enforcement of people who do not do the right thing, but I want to say that we do think there is a broader problem here. The West Gate Tunnel deal was a terrible, dud deal that was done by Labor. It was done in circumstances that I do not think stand up to proper scrutiny. Pallas’s office’s involvement and the movement of Considine and others across there within a very short period of time had all the hallmarks of corrupt decision-making going on. I think the West Gate Tunnel deal blew out massively with huge state costs. It got Transurban, frankly, what they wanted: the extension of their concession to 2045. There are huge amounts of toll money paid through early instalments and with quarterly increases all the way through. To this day people can come across the Bolte Bridge or through the tunnel, and they are paying an additional levy to support the West Gate Tunnel. They may never, ever use it. I have used the West Gate Tunnel once just to see it and to understand what it was like. I can tell you there were only three cars in the thing going both directions, but nonetheless people were paying for that tunnel.

Ryan Batchelor: How can you see them going in both directions?

David DAVIS: Well, because you can see it at the end.

Ryan Batchelor interjected.

David DAVIS: I will tell you what, you know that this was a bad deal for Victoria, and Victorians are paying through the nose.

Ryan Batchelor: You just said something that is not physically possible.

David DAVIS: It is if you go to the ends of the tunnels. I want to be clear here that the opposition has some important responses to the problems people are having with tolls. We have offered a $50-a-week cap on tolls for families and for small businesses for two years from 1 July 2027 if elected. The toll cap will apply to cars, light commercial vehicles and small business fleets of up to five vehicles, including a number of tradies’ popular models: Toyota Hilux, Ranger, Isuzu D-MAX and others which attract higher tolls currently. Many tradies are being clobbered hard with massive costs to their businesses because of the deal that was done. Mr Batchelor might like the deal, but most tradies and families that are paying the tolls do not like the deal. The toll cap will be a first step in a broader review of tolling arrangements in Victoria to ensure the system is delivering the best possible outcomes for motorists. There are a number of points that we can work our way through with Transurban, but in the first instance, a two-year toll cap is a very significant addition for many families and businesses.

We are conscious of the harm and the damage that is being caused, the cost-of-living impact and the hit on so many small businesses that has been implemented through this process. I for one say Jess Wilson has made a very important announcement here; she has understood that there are a range of issues with these tolling arrangements that are impacting on families and small businesses. We have got a first step. There are obviously going to have to be a number of discussions, but we need to work our way through them. I see the documents motion today as a useful step in providing additional information about the impacts on many individuals that occur with this set of tolling arrangements.

 Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (11:09): I rise to support this wonderful motion as well. I think the house is asking for something very reasonable, something every Victorian should know, and that is how many warrants are now sitting behind unpaid toll infringements, as if our courts and police do not have better things to do. They should be out catching actual thugs and all the violent teens on our streets. The road toll system in this state seems to me to have been designed from the get-go to exploit Victorians who have already contributed taxes to build and maintain the roads and then as toll payers on every single use. Even worse, toll companies alone get to use Victoria Police as their private enforcers. You start with a $4 trip through the West Gate Tunnel, and if you miss a payment, then you will receive your first invoice in the post on paper, letting you know that you have missed your $4 toll and you are also being charged $16.13 for an admin fee. Why are these being sent by post at all if not to rip off taxpayers for that extra amount? If you miss that, ignore that or could not pay it on time, then eventually, again through the post on paper, you will get your second warning. You will get told about the toll you missed, and you will be charged $31.49 in admin fees. If you miss that, then Victoria Police can issue an infringement notice; the infringement cost is $209.10. Then comes Fines Victoria, then the licence suspension, then a hold on your registration, then a garnish on your wages and then at the very end of that chain waits an enforcement warrant for a $4 toll and $31.49 in admin fees – in the middle of a crime crisis.

No other private business in Victoria gets to use Victoria Police to collect their debts for them. They do not do it for plumbers, they do not do it for mechanics, they do not do it for schools and they do not do it for dental clinics. When an ordinary Victorian business sends an invoice and you fail to pay, they have to bear the risk of following you up for that money, taking you to court and selling your debt to a private debt collection company, and they risk never getting paid. But not these big toll companies – no, they get to use Victoria Police to back them up as their enforcers. I think that is an incredible conflict of interest, and it is just not right; that is not what the police are for.

The Melbourne City Link Act 1995 is legislation that really exploits and condemns Victorians. These administration fees have already been brought up: a Senate inquiry recorded that a Victorian Auditor-General examination found that the genuine cost of admin sat somewhere between 28 cents and 93 cents. I mean, that is outrageous; that is just pillaging Victorians who are already suffering through a cost-of-living crisis. New South Wales has already switched all of those administrative fees off. They are the same companies and the same roads, but it is a far better deal for ratepayers across the border than it is for Victorians. Victorians are being absolutely pillaged left, right and centre by this government. They hide it behind private companies and blame them, but really it is this place that started this system.

CityLink is doing just fine. Public reporting put its revenue at $987 million in 2024–25, and this year Transurban admitted to a billing error that overcharged roughly 90,000 Melbourne motorists. Advocacy groups have warned that most of the old imprisonment warrants for unpaid fines were toll debts. This house deserves to see the truth of those numbers. Again, I remind everybody that this system was set up by this Parliament. Some members of this Parliament even have shares in these companies. Do not forget that the trucks that this was supposed to get off the streets are now banned on Francis Street and others around Footscray, meaning that trucks moving around the west have no safe, reasonable way of avoiding the tolls. This government is using its power to shovel money back into the pockets of private companies. It is not about serving Victorians, and it is not about fixing the road crisis. The documents produced by this motion are necessary for transparency. Victorians deserve to know how many people are being rorted by this system. I thank Ms Payne for bringing this motion.

Motion agreed to.