Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In WA the number of fine defaulters going to prison has blown out since stringent new provisions for non-payment of fines were introduced in 2009. In 2008, the number of fine defaulters was just 194. By 2013, this figure had grown to 1,328, 590 of whom were Aboriginal. One in three women entering prison were doing nothing more than paying off a fine.

This tragically came to public attention last year when a young Aboriginal woman died in a South Hedland prison cell where she had been sent for not paying a fine of less than $1,000. Fortunately, we have seen some claw-back of the position, but still last year 782 people went to prison in Western Australia for fine default, so clearly it is still a problem.

Of course there have to be consequences in relation to the nonpayment of fine. However, the current situation is not sustainable. It is normalising imprisonment for many Aboriginal people, impacting on their sense of identity within the community. I know from personal experience that cutting out fines can be an attractive option if you are on a low income. I recall getting a fine for nonvoting in the daylight saving referendum when I was a student. I had not known about the fine, and it accumulated in size. I seriously considered the possibility of going to Bandyup for a day or two—until I thought about those scenes from Prisoner and decided against it!

But this approach is also very costly for the taxpayer. In 2013, it cost the government in WA $2.4 million jailing fine defaulters. This change in policy, it must be pointed out, has not actually seen a decrease in the total number of outstanding fines. Indeed, the amount outstanding in fines continued to increase between 2018 and 2013. There has a better way. We need to consider a plan that would allow fines to be collected in a sustainable way from income or social security, in much the same way that what we have with child support payments and university debts. This policy would apply to the entire community.

Earlier this month I was contacted by ANU's Dr Bruce Chapman, who has extensive experience in this area. He is advocating a system similar to HECS, which he helped devise, to help fine defaulters repay their debts and stay out of jail. Dr Chapman's proposal would set a very low threshold for repayments and would take only a small amount of each fine defaulter's weekly pay—as little as $8. There is already a similar voluntary system in place through Centrelink. In 2012-13, 177,000 people used the Centrelink service to pay court fines. The question is whether or not this service could be made compulsory. A set of scheduled payments would provide a consumption smoothing effect for fine defaulters, offering a stable and sustainable way of paying their debts.

I want to acknowledge the work of state shadow corrective services minister Paul Papalia, who has written an excellent discussion paper on how poverty drives imprisonment. He proposes, amongst other things, a better supervised program of community service obligation. I agree that that must be part of the solution. However, Dr Chapman's idea of a compulsory deduction through tax and the Centrelink system is important to explore. It would help fines to be paid back early before huge liabilities are accumulated.

I point out that the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody of 1987 recommended imprisonment be utilised only as a last resort. It is clear that this recommendation was not heeded, to the detriment of Aboriginal people and the wider community. We have an opportunity here to implement a system that would get people out of jail, get money paid back to the state and help close the gap in incarceration rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Next month we are setting up a roundtable in Perth to explore these options further. We have to move away from the Dickensian days of debtors' prisons.