Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987
An Act to provide generally for the introduction of a penalty units system with respect to offences against Acts and subordinate instruments in place of the existing system providing for penalties in monetary terms, to amend certain Acts for the purpose of introducing that system, to increase certain penalties for offences against the Police Offences Act 1935 , the Alcohol and Drug Dependency Act 1968 , and the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 , and to amend the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 and the Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1981 .
[Royal Assent 29 April 1987]
Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:
This Act may be cited as the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987 .
(1) Except as provided in this section and subject to subsection (3) , this Act shall commence on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.(2) Section 6 and Schedule 2 shall be deemed to have commenced on 30th September 1981.(3) [Section 2 Subsection (3) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]Where the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent is a day before the day fixed by proclamation under section 2 (2) of the Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1985 –(a) section 7 (1) and Schedule 3 shall commence on that first-mentioned day; and(b) section 7 (2) and Schedule 4 shall be repealed.(4) Where the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent is a day on or after the day fixed by proclamation under section 2 (2) of the Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1985 –on the day so fixed by proclamation.(a) section 7 (2) and Schedule 4 shall commence; and(b) section 7 (1) and Schedule 3 shall be repealed –
In this Act –statutory rule has the meaning assigned to that expression by the Rules Publication Act 1953 ;subordinate instrument means an instrument that is –(a) a statutory rule; or(b) not a statutory rule but which is a regulation, rule, or by-law or any other instrument of a legislative character.
[Section 4 Amended by No. 43 of 1991, s. 3 ][Section 4 Amended by No. 37 of 2007, s. 4, Applied:24 Oct 2007] [Section 4 Amended by No. 12 of 2015, s. 4, Applied:19 May 2015] Where, in any Act or subordinate instrument for the time being in force, a number (whether whole or fractional) of what in the Act or subordinate instrument are referred to as "penalty units" is prescribed as the penalty for an offence against that Act or subordinate instrument or is specified for some other purpose in that Act or subordinate instrument, then the Act or subordinate instrument shall, subject to section 37 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 , be construed as setting out a penalty of a number of dollars equal to the product obtained by multiplying the amount specified in the most recent notice published under section 4A(4) by the number of penalty units so prescribed or so specified.
4A. Indexation of penalty units
[Section 4A Inserted by No. 37 of 2007, s. 5, Applied:24 Oct 2007] [Section 4A Subsection (4A) inserted by No. 44 of 2011, s. 4, Applied:29 Nov 2011] [Section 4A Substituted by No. 12 of 2015, s. 5, Applied:19 May 2015](1) The value of a penalty unit for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2015 is $154.(2) The value of a penalty unit for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2016, and for each subsequent financial year, is to be calculated in accordance with the following formula and rounded off in accordance with subsection (3) :where –A is the value in dollars of a penalty unit for the relevant financial year;B is $154;C is the value of the CPI figure for Hobart for the December quarter immediately preceding the financial year in which the value of the penalty unit is to apply;D is the value of the CPI figure for Hobart for the December quarter 2014 (as published with the CPI figure for Hobart for the March quarter immediately preceding the financial year in which the value of the penalty unit is to apply).(3) If the amount calculated in accordance with the formula specified in subsection (2) is an amount which is dollars and a number of cents, the amount is to be rounded up to the nearest whole dollar.(4) On or before 1 June in each year, the Minister is to publish in the Gazette notice of the value of a penalty unit that is to apply for the financial year commencing on 1 July in that year.(5) An increase in the value of a penalty unit is of no effect unless notice of the value of the penalty unit is published under subsection (4) .(6) A notice under subsection (4) is not a statutory rule within the meaning of the Rules Publication Act 1953 .(7) If, for a financial year, the value of a penalty unit calculated in accordance with the formula specified in subsection (2) results in a reduction in that value –(a) the reduction is of no effect; and(b) the notice published under subsection (4) is to specify that the value of a penalty unit for that financial year is to be the same as in the previous financial year.(8) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Amendment Act 2015 affects the validity of the value of a penalty unit calculated before the commencement of that Act.(9) In this section –CPI figure for Hobart means the Consumer Price Index: All Groups Index Number for Hobart published by the Australian Statistician under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 of the Commonwealth.
5. Amendments of certain Acts in relation to penalty units and other penalties
The Acts specified in Schedule 1 are amended in the manner specified in that Schedule.
6. Consequential amendments of Acts Interpretation Act 1931 and Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1981
The Acts Interpretation Act 1931 and the Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1981 are amended in the manner specified in Schedule 2 .
7. Amendments consequential on commencement of Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1985
(1) Schedule 3 has effect.(2) [Section 7 Subsection (2) omitted by No. 13 of 1987, s. 2 (3) ]. . . . . . . .
7A. Transitional provisions consequent on Penalty Units and Other Penalties Amendment Act 2015
[Section 7A Inserted by No. 12 of 2015, s. 6, Applied:19 May 2015](1) In this section –amending Act means the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Amendment Act 2015;2015 financial year means the financial year commencing on 1 July 2015.(2) On and after the day on which the amending Act commences, the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Order 2014 –(a) is taken to be a notice published under section 4A(4) ; and(b) remains in effect until a subsequent notice is published under that section.(3) Despite section 4A(4) and (5) , if the amending Act commences on or after 1 June 2015 –(a) the Minister is to publish in the Gazette notice of the value of a penalty unit for such period of the 2015 financial year as remains after the commencement of that Act; and(b) the value of a penalty unit as specified in that notice takes effect 28 days after that notice is published under paragraph (a) .
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act or any other Act, the provisions of the Acts specified in Schedule 1 , as in force immediately before the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, apply to and in relation to offences committed or alleged to have been committed under those Acts and acts done, or omitted to be done, or alleged to have been done, or to have been omitted to be done, under those Acts before that day, and, for the purposes of that application, the provisions of the Acts so specified, as so in force, shall be deemed to remain in force.(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act or any other Act, the provisions of section 46A of the Police Offences Act 1935 , as in force –apply to or in relation to offences committed or alleged to have been committed under section 46A of the Police Offences Act 1935 before the day referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) , as the case requires, and, for the purposes of this subsection, the provisions of section 46A of the Police Offences Act 1935 , as so in force, shall be deemed to remain in force.(a) on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, in a case to which section 2 (3) of this Act applies; or(b) on the day fixed by proclamation under section 2 (2) of the Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1985 , in any other case –
During the period of 2 months commencing on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, a vendor by retail of cigars, cigarettes, or tobacco who complies with the provisions of section 32 (2) of the Police Offences Act 1935 , as in force immediately before that day, is not guilty of an offence against that Act.
SCHEDULE 1 - Amendments of Certain Acts in Relation to Penalty Units and Other PenaltiesThe amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the following Acts:
(a) Acts Interpretation Act 1931 ;(b) Alcohol and Drug Dependency Act 1968 ;(c) Motor Vehicles Securities Act 1984 ;(d) Motor Vehicles Taxation Act 1981 ;(e) Police Offences Act 1935 ;(f) Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 .
SCHEDULE 2 - Consequential Amendments of Acts Interpretation Act 1931 and Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1981The amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the following Acts:
(a) Acts Interpretation Act 1931 ;(b) Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1981 .
SCHEDULE 3 - Amendments Consequential on Commencement of Police Offences Amendment Act (No. 2) 1985The amendments effected by this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the Police Offences Act 1935 .
SCHEDULE 4[Schedule 4 Repealed by No. 13 of 1987, s. 2 (3) ]