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  • Barely one in 10 Victorian COVID-19 fines paid in full

    Author: AAP

Just one in 10 fines for breaching Victorian health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic have been paid in full, stripping tens of millions of dollars from the state's coffers.

In a state budget estimates hearing on Friday, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said 50,150 fines totalling more than $100 million were handed out for breaching health orders during the pandemic.

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More than 5500 have been paid in full, almost 3500 in part with the aid of ongoing payment plans and 14,319 are unpaid past their due date, leading to enforcement warrants being issued.

Some 3716 people have challenged 4052 of the fines in court and 11,800 were cancelled by enforcement agencies.

A further 152 fines were also registered with the Children's Court for enforcement.

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So far the Victorian government has recouped $9.36m from COVID-19 fines paid in full and another $5.76m are subject to ongoing payment plans.

Despite more than 20 per cent of the fines being withdrawn, Ms Symes warned people not to ignore them as they can build up over time.

"Fines don't go away unless you take action for them," she told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.

"There is a variety of ways that you can seek to engage with the department to deal with your fines, whether it's through payment plans or whether people have got grounds to have them withdrawn."

Shadow attorney-general Michael O'Brien called on all outstanding COVID-19 fines to be immediately reviewed and withdrawn unless found to have genuinely put lives at risk.

"The Andrews Labor government used Victoria Police as the enforcement arm of its heavy handed COVID policies; policies that often made no sense and damaged many lives," Mr O'Brien said in a statement.

"That barely one in ten fines have been paid in full says that many people do not accept the Andrews government's unjust fines or unjust policies."

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