Fine reviews dodgy

Jessica Benton
Dodgy review systems could be leaving Geelong residents paying unfair fines, according to the state opposition.
Shadow Attorney-General Robert Clark said an Auditor-General investigation had exposed ineffective systems at City of Greater Geelong and Victoria Police.
The investigation found that internal review processes for withdrawing fines were “inadequate or had gaps”, he said.
The investigation also probed procedures at Ballarat and two Melbourne councils.
Mr Clark said the Auditor-General’s report criticised the agencies for “poor records, inadequate procedures, failure to verify claims and inaccurate classification of data”.
City of Greater Geelong issued 54,384 infringement notices in the previous financial year but 6147 were subject to review, Mr Clark said.
The City’s notices comprised about 52,000 parking fines, 1900 animal-related infringements and about 500 other alleged breaches of by-laws. Victoria Police issued 2,259,484 infringement notices, with 141, 542 reviewed.
Mr Clark said the investigation suggested the City was unfairly slugging residents when they could least afford to pay undeserved fines.
Mr Clark said State Government had set up a unit three years ago to ensure fines were fair but the Auditor-General had found that many improvements were “still needed”.
City marketing and administration acting manager John Brown said the City had spent the past 20 months cleaning up its fines review system.
“As mentioned in the report, COGG has undertaken a continuous improvement process in respect to infringement management,” Mr Brown said.
“These efforts were acknowledged in the Auditor-General’s report and, in fact, COGG was praised for five of its practices relating to infringement management, including promotion of an offender’s rights to internal review.
“These initiatives were acknowledged as resulting in better practice. The City has further expanded its process to address any small gaps that might have existed.”