Page 226 - Week 01 - Thursday, 18 February 1993
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Traffic and Parking Fines
MR STEVENSON: Madam Speaker, my question is also addressed to Mr Connolly. How much revenue was collected by police, parking and the courts in traffic and parking fines for offences committed in the ACT in the last 12 months?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, just off the top of my head, I will answer Mr Stevenson's question, but he did have the courtesy, as he often does, to advise the office that he was interested in this matter. With regard to revenue from traffic infringement notices, revenue collection changed from the AFP to the transport regulation section in May of 1992 in order to stop people being dealt with as criminal offenders and serving out time, as we debated yesterday. Revenue collected by the section from May to June 1992 was $217,157; from July to September 1992, $823,491; and from October to December 1992, $553,431; a total from May 1992 to the end of December of $1,574,079.
Figures for revenue collected by the courts as traffic fines are available only on an annual basis, and in the calendar year 1992 the total figure was $1,758,850.18. Revenue collected by the transport regulation section in relation to parking infringement notices during 1992 totalled $2,927,953. I will break that up into the two-monthly periods for you, Mr Stevenson, and hand that to you. During 1992 the courts collected total parking fines of $44,529. That was as the matter started to tail out from the courts as we moved to the new collection system.
Belconnen Remand Centre
MR CORNWELL: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Attorney-General. The Canberra Times of 23 December 1992 report on the distribution of condoms at the Belconnen Remand Centre mentions that the AIDS kit contains bleach for cleaning needles. I ask: What are needles doing in the Belconnen Remand Centre? Why do officers not search for and confiscate these dangerous implements? Are the Government and the officers of the remand centre indirectly condoning the use of an illegal substance by allowing needles in the centre? The Canberra Times article states:
We will show the rest of the country that you can have a well-ordered custodial facility ...
How can the Government make that statement if such implements for use in administering an illegal substance are tolerated there?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I thank Mr Cornwell for the question. The short answer is that needles are not tolerated in the remand centre. The presence of a needle in the remand centre is a serious breach of discipline and would be dealt with seriously. There have been such matters detected and charges have been brought. I do not have figures but I can get them and perhaps recite them at a future question time.
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