Fixing fines recovery in the Northern Territory

Written on the 6 August 2024 by SAFCA

Copied from Media Release, 2 August 2024. Visit the Northern Territory Government Newsroom for more. 

The Northern Territory Government has decided to establish a new entity to enforce the payment of fines in the Northern Territory.

Process issues with the enforcement of fines and penalties have been identified, dating back more than a decade and could go back further. This means that sanctions applied to people who had not paid their fines by their due date are not enforceable.

The original fines – such as speeding or parking fines – are still legally valid and still need to be paid. However any subsequent enforcement action for fines not paid, such as having a driver’s licence suspended, may not have been actioned appropriately.

Enforcement action on outstanding fines and penalties is currently on hold until the process issues are resolved.

Due to these historic process issues, the Northern Territory Government has established a Taskforce, within the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice. The Taskforce will establish how many Territorians may be impacted by these historical process issues, how to remedy these issues and the continuation of any compliance action, as appropriate.  

The Department will contact people affected by this issue. If you think you may be affected please call the hotline on 1800 161 205 or visit https://nt.gov.au/fru-response.

This could apply to someone if they have not paid their parking fine on time and have received correspondence from the Fines Recovery Unit and an additional sanction has been imposed – such as suspension of a drivers licence.

The Department will commission an independent review of the processes of the Fines Recovery Unit, which will also consider recommendations about how the new entity should be established.

The Taskforce has been tasked to provide advice to the Northern Territory Government on a range of options to rectify matters identified, including the priority introduction of legislation, in the next term of Parliament, to fix fines recovery in the Northern Territory.