Indigenous Australians are having their driving licences cancelled and facing crushing debts due to the New South Wales government’s “punitive”, flawed and often erroneous enforcement of outstanding Covid fines, lawyers have warned.
The Aboriginal Legal Service NSW has renewed its plea for fines issued for Covid rule breaches to be withdrawn or converted to formal cautions, warning they are having a disproportionate effect on disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
Roughly 45,000 fines issued in 2021-22 are now overdue, according to NSW government data, and the vast majority are being enforced. That’s despite evidence that some fines have either been issued erroneously, are not being tested properly in internal review processes, or are being enforced unfairly.
Managing solicitor for the ALS’s Fines Clinic, Lauren Stefanou, said the enforcement of fines was causing the suspension of drivers licences for Indigenous Australians in the state. The loss of a driving licence, on top of a significant debt, was having a dire effect on an already disadvantaged group, she said.
“The ALS has been contacted by many Aboriginal people whose licences have been suspended due to fine enforcement action, including young people unable to obtain their learner licences,” Stefanou said. “Many of these clients live in regional and remote areas where public transport is not available. The stress of licence sanctions only adds to the financial stress caused by crushing fine debt.”
Stefanou said many of her clients were electing to fight their fines in court in desperation to avoid paying fines of $1,000 or more. Data suggests this has added an additional 2,782 cases to the court lists, a significant burden on the justice system.
“Most impacted individuals will be forced to appear without legal representation, despite the fact that they risk a criminal record and heavy fines,” she said.
The Redfern Legal Centre is representing three plaintiffs in a NSW supreme court case challenging Covid fines, which could have much broader ramifications for the tens of thousands of fines issued during the pandemic.
One of those plaintiffs, Rohan Pank, sued after police and the state’s administrator of fines refused to cancel a fine he received for sitting in a park during lockdown.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that, after Pank began proceedings, the government withdrew its fine. That’s despite him previously seeking two internal reviews of the fine, prior to initiating proceedings.
Late last year, an alliance of legal services urged the state government to pause its enforcement of Covid fines, warning many had been issued incorrectly. They told NSW finance minister, Damien Tudehope, that the fines were disproportionately hurting Indigenous Australians, homeless groups and people living with a disability.
Data obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre shows that in July, August, and September last year, 47,414 fines were issued for breaches of public health orders, creating $43,234,340 in debt.
The local government areas with the largest volume of fines per capita were Brewarrina, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Moree Plains, Walgett, Bourke and Gunnedah. Those LGAs all have significant Indigenous populations.
The state’s premier crime statistics agency, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, found in October that police had disproportionately fined residents of western Sydney for Covid-19 breaches during the Delta outbreak, despite surveys suggesting its residents were among the most compliant in the state.
The agency warned the high volume of fines would pose a “significant burden for some sections of the community who are already vulnerable”.
The Redfern Legal Centre has also previously said that the majority of the cases it was dealing with involved fines that should arguably be withdrawn.
“We are of the view that in the majority of the cases coming to us, the police have applied the law incorrectly,” Samantha Lee, Redfern Legal Centre’s senior solicitor in police accountability, said in October.
Stefanou said the review process has clearly failed to “deliver justice for people issued with erroneous and unfair fines”.
“Police were unable to keep up with the complex and rapid changes to the public health orders they were tasked with enforcing,” she said. “Revenue NSW’s internal review process has been equally challenged by both the complexity of the orders and the volume of reviews.”
Revenue NSW said licence sanctions were “possible” but not the first course of action in enforcing debts.
“Sanctions are only imposed if someone has not been in contact with Revenue NSW after repeated attempts over an extended period of time,” a spokesperson said.
“Vulnerable or disadvantaged customers who are impacted by a licence sanction are urged to call Revenue NSW to discuss their personal circumstances.”
The agency said it also employed a team of First Nations support officers to help Indigenous Australians “resolve their fines in a culturally safe way”.
“Since the First Nations Support team was first established in 2020, they have successfully helped a large number of customers, who have chosen to use this service, resolve their fines debt and break the debt cycle,” the spokesperson said.
It said it was also reaching out to vulnerable customers to provide support, which, in some cases, including writing debts off.
The spokesperson said Revenue NSW would contact ALS to ask whether they have specific clients in this situation.
“Help is available and Revenue NSW is here to support customers,” the spokesperson said.
“Revenue NSW has a range of options available to help people who are having difficulty paying their fines. Customers are urged to call Revenue on 1300 138 118 to discuss their unique circumstances.”
