Review Of Fines System
Courts Minister Rick Barker today announced the second phase of a review into the overall effectiveness of the scale and
impact of infringement notices imposed outside the Court system.
"The basic infringement system, which has been serving a useful purpose in New Zealand society for 38 years, is not
broken," said Rick Barker.
"But the system is under strain. The infringement notice system was started simply to issue parking tickets, but fines
are now collected for 19 active infringement regimes and issued by around 100 different organisations.
"Nearly forty percent of the 2.6 million infringement notices issued each year are filed at the District Court for
enforcement. The Collections Unit does a great job collecting infringement fines, but the fact so many get to this stage
suggests that in many cases, the system is not working as it should.
"We have just completed the first stage of the infringement review, a thorough stock-take of the infringement notice
system. Information on this is being made available today.
"Developing a coherent and efficient infringement structure is a complex job. The infringement system has evolved with
little guidance and this has led to inconsistencies. One example is that some local authorities offer time to pay
arrangements while others don't. The only option for people wanting to pay their fines off over time, but who live in
areas where this isn't possible, is to wait until they're contacted by Collections. This increases costs for both the
taxpayer and the individual.
"As part of the review we have consulted with the agencies who issue fines, and talked to those with large fines about
their experiences.
"A separate Ministry of Transport work stream supported by the New Zealand Police is currently underway examining
strategies to improve road safety and this will include an examination on the role and effectiveness of fines in
moderating behaviour for certain road transport requirements. This work, which is being led by my colleague Hon Annette
King, will link to the proposals I will be taking to Cabinet early next year.
"Part of our stocktake was a qualitative study of young infringers with multiple unpaid infringement fines. A key
finding was that once these young people accumulated fines of around $2000, they no longer saw payment as a realistic
option, and further infringements did not act as a deterrent.
"This shows we need to identify people with fines approaching this level at an earlier stage so we can use case
management approaches to make effective interventions.
"Our work has shown that monetary penalties aren't always the answer, and other approaches such as demerit points or the
greater use of warnings may be more effective.
"The second phase of designing and developing new infringement policy is well underway and will be reported back to
Cabinet within the next six months. It consists of three work streams that will focus on:
1.Whether new guidelines, and possibly new law, is needed to ensure a higher level of consistency between different
infringements schemes.
2.Ways to improve compliance and remove payment barriers, including consideration of issues raised in a report on young
people and infringements.
3.Getting tougher on people who try to evade paying infringement notices.
"There is a strong element in all of this about reaching a balance that is at the right size, the right scale and that
achieves the right impacts and desirable behaviours.
"There are no 'off the shelf' solutions and whatever future directions are taken, the bottom line will always be we must
all comply with the laws of the land", said Rick Barker.
Ends