I’ll admit I am one of those people who upon getting a speeding fine – file it until way past the due date knowing that there will be another reminder in the mail. Once I receive that I put it right to the bottom of the to-dos in the eternal hope that the police will somehow magically lose my fine or forget to follow up. Then I receive a further notice for my original fine plus court costs. Once I receive this I generally mope over to the court house and pay the thing. Cursing as I fork over a perfectly good 60, 80 or 100 dollars that I can always find 1001 other uses for. Why do I eventually pay the fine? Well forget about philanthropic reasons or a ‘I’ve been a naughty boy and now I must pay my dues’ attitude - At the end of the day I know that If I don’t cough up am going to face further consequences i.e. Further court costs, cars impounded, named in the paper, bailiffs and eventually arrest next time I’m pulled over.
.Recently I have been astounded to read about huge fine write offs. Politicians in the usual ‘duck and dive’ statement said that ‘these fine write-offs ‘only happen through the courts by Judges with the authority to do so. What also irks with these fines remits are the reparation orders due to the victims of crime are also being written off.
The Board of the Northland Chamber of Commerce in the recently released Strategic Intent painted Northlands future as one where all citizens contribute economically – Stephen Gillingham’s leadership ensure that our members are aiming to create more than just an economic prosperous Northland, but includes other elements to ensure that everything we do today adds to a sustainable future for Northland. This includes being productive members of society and ensuring that we are all paying our way. A big part of this is of course taking responsibility for our actions.
As far as the fines remit problem is concerned it’s obvious from Minister Rick Barker’s comments that the Government don’t see the issue as being serious enough to deal with. We don’t agree with this logic. Fines and justice are an integral part of the make up of our community. We ask Rick Barker to ensure that every dollar of every fine is pursued relentlessly and that Government set policy and guidelines to ensure that this happens.
On Tuesday 8th August the Northland Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the Law and Order Spokesperson for the National Party, Simon Power. Simon is slowly gaining prominence among his constituency and this has been reflected in his rise through the National Party ranks.
Simons Visit will be timely with the recent announcement of the latest fines Remit. Northland Chamber of Commerce members will get an opportunity to ask Simon about this issue and how the opposition could handle topics like this.
For Chamber membership enquiries please contact the ofice on +64 9 4384771
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I believe the Government needs to review the fines system - why are so many be issued continually when in reality many of the culprits (who eventually have their fines remitted) keep being issued with fines when probably it is well known they haven't paid the earlier ones.
In some instances the issue of fines for minor offences are needless and could be delat with in better ways.
The Courts should be more pro-active in dealing with collection of outstanding fines before they become so large they have to be written off because it is obvious the persons do not have the means to pay them off.
If these persons are beneficiaries a weekly amount should automatically be taken from their benefit to repay the fines (after all the taxpayer is funding the beneficiary and the fines remittancek!) Also the Government and/or the Courts need to put in place more regularly the naming in the newspapers those owing fines, their licence should be revoked for a certain period and they should have to pay to get it back similarly cars should be confiscated until the fines are repaid. So yes the Government should be taking measures to ensure fines are not issued unecessarily and they are paid in the first instance and as soon as they are not and start creeping up action should be taken. The Government would be far better looking into this matter than wasting time stopping parents dropping their children off at the school gate but I digress and this is another issue!!
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