Impact of fine mess debated in Parliament

THE state Opposition has criticised state Labor over the fallout of errors and delays at Fines Victoria on councils such as the City of Greater Geelong, and Labor has suggested the council could raise rates to make up any funding shortfall.

Earlier this year, the Victorian Ombudsman tabled a report on complaints about Fines Victoria, which found considerable IT failures at the agency since its establishment in late 2017.

The IT failures have caused delays to the payments owed to councils, with the City of Greater Geelong losing about $650,000 in the past 18 months.

Geelong is owed nearly $8 million in unrecovered fines – a figure quoted last week by Liberal Member for Western Victoria Bev McArthur in state Parliament, where she described the situation as a “debacle” and urged action to protect the revenue base of councils such as the City of Greater Geelong.

Minister for Local Government Adem Somyurek agreed with the characterisation.

“I think it is probably an apt description to call it a Fines Victoria debacle, because it is a bit of a debacle, but responsibility for that debacle does not sit within the local government minister’s purview,” he said.

“Yes, local government revenue is affected by this bungle, and I would expect that to be fixed, because local government revenue is a big thing.”

Ms McArthur asked Mr Somyurek to “assure the house that councils impacted by Fines Victoria in this debacle, including the City of Greater Geelong, have not cut their services or lifted their rates higher than otherwise would have been required”.

In response, Mr Somyurek said how the City of Greater Geelong managed its budget was a matter for the council itself.

“If Geelong council think that they have a case for raising the cap, they ought to make an application to the Essential Services Commission, where a panel of experts will give due consideration to whether the cap should be lifted.”

In April, Ombudsman Deborah Glass said her office received 605 complaints about Fines Victoria in 2018 – a 74 per cent increase on the number of complaints received about its predecessor agency, Civic Compliance Victoria.