The Legislative Council has backed the Hodgman Liberal Government’s promise to strengthen the deterrent against committing crimes and offences with the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Amendment Bill passing the Upper House without amendment.
We have delivered on our election commitment to send a strong message that those who break the law and commit offences will be held accountable.
The value of fines has declined markedly with inflation over time. Penalty units were first set in 1987 at $100 and if the official inflation rate had been applied they would today be $235, instead of the current $140. The amendment passed by the Upper House today introduces a one-off 10 per cent increase followed by linking the penalty unit to the inflation rate in future years.
The Liberal Government is unashamedly on the side of the law-abiding community, and we believe the community will support this modest increase. The bottom-line is if you do not want to pay the fine, do not do the crime.
Labor and the Greens once again took a soft on crime approach and showed they are still joined at the hip by opposing this amendment, but we take crime seriously and we believe fines need to be sufficient to act as an effective deterrent to offending.
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