The report showed that Revenue NSW, the state government’s debt collection agency, issues “large volumes” of garnishee orders “to the big four banks in particular.” An automated system at Revenue NSW sends out a nightly list of individuals deemed to have defaulted on fines, ordering the banks to identify accounts held by these individuals and transfer funds to satisfy the debts.
The debts collected through Revenue NSW’s automated process are mostly for unpaid parking, speeding and other traffic fines, but also include fines for drug offences, theft and unpaid taxes.
A University of Wollongong 2018 research paper “The Hidden Punitiveness of Fines,” noted that courts “frequently impose fines on offenders who already have outstanding fines that they cannot pay.”
The research paper explained that “enforcement has necessarily assumed growing significance,” because fines have reached “massive levels. In NSW in 2015–16, the total value of penalty notices issued by agencies… amounted to almost half a billion dollars.”
A new State Debt Recovery Bill was introduced in 2018 that broadened the range of debts subject to recovery orders.
Liberal Member of Parliament Leslie Williams declared that the new legislation would bring about “the reduction of the cost of debt recovery, improvement in debt recovery success rates and an increase in government revenue.” Williams added that the legislation was aimed at securing “an additional $85.5 million worth of debt… within four years and $45.5 million to $97.5 million each year thereafter.”
When the act commenced, Laura Bianchi, a solicitor from the Redfern Legal Centre, said she was “particularly concerned with the wide scope of ‘referable debt’” covered under the legislation, “specifically because it appears to extend to social housing debts.”
Bianchi said that state agencies were previously required to obtain judgment from a court before they could collect debt, but “now Revenue NSW can simply send a notice to a person’s last known address, and if the debt remains unpaid after the due date, debt recovery action will commence.” This can include taking money from a person’s bank account, seizing property and placing a charge on land.
Read the full article here (World Socialist Web Site, 10 February 2022)
