Lee Melissa: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — First Reading 
Lee Melissa: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11002] 
MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to speak to the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill in its first reading. I commend the Minister for Courts the Hon Georgina te Heuheu who brought this bill to the House. Without her it would be languishing on the Order Paper. As at 30 April 2010 we have $778 million worth of unpaid fines reparations court costs and penalties—three-quarters of a billion dollars or 778 Lotto jackpots of $1 million—that have not been paid by the New Zealand public. We know how elusive Lotto jackpots can be. It seems that our fines are also as elusive as that; $778 million worth of unpaid fines is a huge amount of money. The total amount of fines and penalties grew by 47 percent while Labour was in Government. A significant amount of that total sum 82 percent relates to unpaid traffic fines worth about $637 million. 
The other day I got a $40 parking ticket. We know how annoying parking tickets can be. I was at Auckland University for a breakfast meeting—if one gets there before 8 o’clock and leaves before 8 o’clock one does not have to pay the $2 or $4 but my meeting ran slightly over time and I was 10 minutes late. To my annoyance I got a $40 parking ticket. We know how it is: one gets a parking ticket and then one panics. One thinks that one has to get to the Auckland City Council site and pay the parking ticket. I went to the website to pay my parking ticket but it was not loaded yet. So I had to wait for a notice in the mail to pay the fine. I might be a little bit neurotic about fines unlike some people and I have to pay that parking ticket. But it seems that an awful lot of New Zealanders are not that way. We need to make them understand that we will get tougher. 
Previous speakers have said that the previous Government tried to get tough. It postulated the situation and even ran an advertising campaign saying that if people do not pay their fines they may get stopped at Auckland Airport or wherever they are travelling from when they take an overseas trip. But even that scare tactic did not work. The campaign served the purpose of educating the public on the consequences of non-payment but it did not do enough to address the problem. In 2008 the previous Government had 6000 suspended drivers still on our roads. Lack of accountability means that the rest of us who are responsible and accountable carry the burden of those who do not. 
So how will we get tough? We will get tough in several ways. This omnibus bill amends the District Courts Act 1947 the Land Transport Act 1998 the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 the Sentencing Act 2002 and 20 other Acts. One way in which this bill takes action is to routinely release the amount of overdue penalties by the Ministry of Justice to credit-reporting agencies to assess fines enforcement. This bill gives priority over secured creditors for seized properties where their overdue penalties could have been discovered before finance was advanced to purchase the property. 
One of the things I really like about this bill—some members have said they are worried about it—is the driver licence stop order as a new penalty enforcement measure in relation to people who have not made arrangements to pay overdue fines for traffic offences. It does not say “pay”; it means arrange to make the commitment to pay the bill. That means they are taking the onus; they are taking ownership of their fines. Their licences will remain stopped until the offender makes arrangements to pay the fines. This instils a sense of ownership which I think is a great thing. They need to become accountable for their actions. 
This bill also improves the operation of reparation and vehicle confiscation as penalty regimes. This National Government is committed to ensuring the matter of unpaid fines is successfully addressed and this bill will see improvements in the operation and efficiency of the courts enforcement systems. This bill is about accountability for action. As a member of the Law and Order Committee I look forward to the submissions on the bill. I commend the bill to the House.