Fine dodger wants to work off $85,000

HARDSHIP PLEA: Heidi Gully outside the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: GREG HIGGS Source: adelaidenow

A HARDCORE fine dodger is pleading in court to have $85,000 in traffic fines converted to community service because of financial "hardship".

The move comes as the Adelaide City Council seeks to further penalise fined motorists by charging interest on overdue parking fines.

Heidi Gully, 32, appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court yesterday seeking a remittance on 156 existing penalties - the majority for speeding, driving unregistered and uninsured - while also facing three new unpaid traffic fines.

The offences date back to 2007, when Ms Gully was fined $480 for driving more than 30km/h above the speed limit on O'Sullivans Beach Rd, Lonsdale.

At a defendant's request, a court can convert fines to a period of community service if it believes the person cannot afford to pay the penalties.

Ms Gully, whose case was adjourned to later this year, is not the state's biggest fine dodger.

Figures released last year showed the worst culprit owed $171,000 while another person had racked up $131,000 from 175 unpaid penalties.

Latest figures also show there are $267 million in unpaid fines, an amount which has doubled in the past six years and prompted a crackdown by the State Government.

New measures will be introduced in Parliament by Attorney-General John Rau next month.

These include withdrawing money from defaulters' bank accounts or wages, selling their home or impounding vehicles.

However, under federal laws, Centrelink payments cannot be docked to repay outstanding fines.

Adelaide City Council will also clamp down on fine dodgers. It is owed an average $1.6 million each year, predominantly in unpaid parking fines, which it refers to the court system for enforcement.

The council said courts recovered less than $1 million in outstanding fines last financial year.

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Obama wants 'balanced' budget cuts

President Barack Obama heaped blame on Republicans on Friday for the failure to break a deadlock in efforts to avert looming automatic spending cuts and warned that a "ripple effect" would start hurting the middle class and the overall U.S. economy. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

WITH spending cuts now etched into law, US President Barack Obama urged Congress to find a deficit-trimming ways that avoids using a 'meat cleaver'.

Mr Obama advocated what he called a balanced approach to replace across the board cuts of $US85 billion ($83.6 billion) in federal spending this year, blending "smart" cuts with reforms.

The so-called sequester mandated cuts were never actually meant to go into effect when it was fashioned in a deal with Congress in 2011.

The drastic cuts are not expected to be immediate or uniform across the country or from one government department to another.

Economists have warned that the cuts could cost many jobs and hinder growth in the still fragile US economy. But the realisation is sinking in that despite the perils they bring, the cuts are here to stay - at least for now.

In his weekly radio and internet address on Saturday, the president argued however there was still time to find a smarter solution to the nation's deficit and debt problem.

"I still believe we can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach - one that combines smart spending cuts with entitlement reform and changes to our tax code that make it more fair for families and businesses without raising anyone's tax rates," Mr Obama said.

These were allusions to Mr Obama's willingness to trim spending on programs like medical care for the elderly and the poor, something which is anathema to many in his Democratic Party, and Mr Obama's drive to close tax loopholes he says benefit the rich.

Republicans, who ceded to Mr Obama in another budget showdown late last year and allowed taxes on the rich to go up, have said point blank that any deficit reduction now has to come from spending cuts, exclusively.

US President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about automatic defense budget cuts.

Mr Obama said the budget deficit now exceeding $US1 trillion can be reduced without laying off workers or forcing parents and students to pay the price.

Under the sequester, 800,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department will go on a mandatory furlough one day a week and the navy will trim voyages.

Cuts will also be made to special needs education and preschool for less well-off children. National parks could close and wait times could hit four hours at airport customs posts.
 

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