Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Northern Victoria Region

Ms MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (12:11): (1903) My constituency question is to the Attorney-General and is about Fines Victoria taking two years to respond to a request for the review of a decision. Attorney, I have written to you with the details of this constituent, who asked for a review of his fines in 2020. The constituent says that Fines Victoria failed to meet the obligations of its own internal review guide and took two years to send him a notice of refusal. While he had assumed the lack of response meant his fines had been withdrawn, in line with the review guide, his fines have instead attracted further fees and charges. The Victorian Ombudsman has been critical of Fines Victoria, and our courts are seeing a rush of warrants and court matters related to fines since pandemic hardship measures ended. I ask the Attorney: will she assist this constituent and escalate the matters with Fines Victoria and review how many times Fines Victoria is not meeting its own time lines and obligations?