Fines Reform Amendment Bill 2017: Victoria Proposes Domestic Violence Fines Exemption Scheme
Thursday 21 September 2017 @ 9.08 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research
On Tuesday, 19 September 2017, the Fines Reform Amendment Bill 2017 (‘the Bill’) was introduced into the Legislative Assembly by the Victorian Attorney General and Minister for Racing, the Honourable Martin Pakula. In essence, the Bill will amend the Fines Reform Act 2014 ('the Act'), as well as a number of other related Acts, to establish a scheme devised to aid people who are the victims of family violence and who have consequently come into contact with the infringement system.
The Royal Commission into Family Violence
The Bill marks the final stage of the implementation of two important recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence, established on the 22nd of February 2015 by the Governor, His Excellency, the Hon. Alex Chernov AC QC. The aims of the Royal Commission included: eliminating family violence from society; increasing awareness of family violence; educating society and potential victims of family violence, particularly with the aim of intervening in family violence before it occurs; and assisting victims of family violence before, during and after the occurrence of family violence.
The report and recommendations of the Royal Commission were released on the 29th of March 2016. Containing 227 recommendations, the two recommendations to be implemented by the Bill are:
| Recommendation 112: |
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The Department of Justice and Regulation investigate whether the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) should be amended so that, if a perpetrator of family violence incurs traffic fines while driving a car registered in the name of the victim, the victim is able to have the fines revoked [within 12 months] by declaring:
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| Recommendation 113 |
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The Victorian Government amend the Infringements Act 2006 (Vic) to provide that the experience of family violence may be a special circumstance entitling a person to have a traffic infringement withdrawn or revoked [within 12 months]. |
Fines Reform Amendment Bill 2017
At present, victims and survivors of family violence, when in contact with the infringement system, are required to wrongly admit to committing the offence, or else to nominate the driver, which in turn can place them at risk. The new scheme proposes to allow eligible applicants to have their relevant fines withdrawn without naming the actual perpetrator. This assistance in turn ensures that debts do not contribute to the cycle of family violence.
Part 2 of the Bill amends the Act by inserting a new part, Part 2B into the Act. This Part devises a new "Family violence scheme" (FVS) whereby, under the inserted s 10M of the Act, "a natural person may apply to the Director for a determination that the person is an FVS eligible person for the purposes of the family violence scheme". An applicant must fulfill a number of requirements as outlined in Division 2 of Part 2B to be inserted into the Act. Therefore, under s 10T(1), "the Director may determine that an FVS applicant is an FVS eligible person in respect of an FVS eligible offence if the Director is satisfied that -
- the FVS applicant was served with an infringement notice in relation to the FVS eligible offence; and
- the FVS applicant is a victime of family violence; and
- either -
- the family violence substantially contributed to the FVS applicant being unable to control the conduct that constituted the FVS eligible offence; or
- in the case of an FVS eligible offence that is an operator onus offence within the meaning of Part 6AA of the Road Safety Act 1986 -
- the FVS applicant was the registered operator of the vehicle at the time of the offence but was not the driver at the time of the offence; and
- the family violence substantially contributed to the FVS applicant being unable to make a known user statement (within the meaning of Part 6AA of the Road Safety Act 1986) in relation to the offence.
Other functions of the Bill include:
- enabling the courts to refer to the Director, Fines Victoria, and empowering the Director, Fines Victoria to deal with fines that are the subject of hearings or a person defaulting on an order;
- further standardising the powers available to the courts to deal with a person who defaults on a court fine or infringement fine;
- providing the power to the sheriff to restrain or give a direction to a person while carrying out duties with respect to detaining or immobilising vehicles or removing number plates under the Fines Reform Act 2014;
- making it an offence to resist the sheriff while a vehicle is being detained or immobilised; and
- making a range of minor, technical and consequential amendments to ensure the efficient and proper operation of the new fines recovery model to be established by the Fines Reform Act 2014.
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Sources:
Fines Reform Amendment Bill 2017 (Vic), Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speeches - available from TimeBase's LawOne service
Fines Reform Act 2014 (Vic), Act, Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speeches - available from TimeBase's LawOne service
Royal Commission into Family Violence: Summary and recommendations (March 2016).
