By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THE Casey North Community Information and Support Service (CISS) has called on Attorney General MP Martin Pakula for a six-month, state-wide amnesty on administration fees attached to unpaid traffic fines due to Casey’s high amount of outstanding penalties.
Executive officer at Casey North CISS Susan Magee wrote to Mr Pakula this week urging him to review the “complicated and inflexible” payment system and take action against the reoccurring and costly fees which push families to the brink.
“People aren’t paying fines when they get them because they can’t afford to,” Ms Magee said.
“We have Casey residents come in carrying shopping bags full of unopened fines and it’s affecting all aspects of their lives.”
Advocating on behalf of Casey residents, Ms Magee said she wanted to take a stand due to Casey’s high debt average, in particular for toll fines.
She said Casey residents’ debt was one of the highest in the state.
In the letter, Ms Magee wrote: “Almost 30,000 Casey residents presently owe $102 million” in road fines, which amounts to “more than 10 per cent of the Casey population”.
Ms Magee said the debt in Casey is increasing and that client are dealing with fines amounting in the thousands with administration fees adding to the colossal bill.
“We even have to refer clients to legal services because it becomes too complex for us to manage,” she said.
Casey North CISS finance counsellor Lisa Hansen said that 80 per cent of clients are dealing with accumulated traffic fines.
“Almost everyone we see has some form of accumulated road fines which keep jumping up with admin fees, which are a killer,” Ms Hansen said.
Ms Magee noted in her letter that Casey is more susceptible to racking up toll and other similar fines due its high workforce age and location.
“Seventy per cent of the Casey workforce drive to work and this makes them particularly vulnerable to tolls,” Ms Magee wrote.
“A lag in infrastructure has resulted in this car dependency that further impacts on high costs of living… and financial stress.”
Ms Hansen said she’s seen cases where Casey residents have delayed paying toll and road fines and are banned from re-registering their car but take the risk and continue to drive.
“They still have to get to work and if they have an accident their insurance won’t pay because they were driving unregistered,” Ms Hansen said.
Ms Magee said one young Casey woman will have paid what would amount to a house deposit in accumulated fines and administration fees.
In the coming weeks Ms Magee will meet with Narre Warren MP and Roads Minister Luke Donnellan to discuss the statewide problem.
“We acknowledge that toll fees and other fines should be paid,” Ms Magee said.
“But we seek greater empathy by the government of the significant effect these debts and the system has on households.”
Such amnesties have been placed across Australia in the past 10 years and Ms Magee is advocating for a pardon in administration fees from three to six months.
