You may be arrested if a court has issued an enforcement warrant against you.
Sheriff's officers can arrest you if a Seven Day Notice has been served and you don't:
- pay your outstanding fine
- enter into a payment arrangement
- apply for a enforcement review
- apply for a work and development permit (if you meet certain criteria)
- have assets that can be seized and sold, or your assets don't meet the value of your outstanding debt.
Once you're arrested, you may be:
- released on a Community Work Permit
- released on bail to appear at the Magistrates' Court at a later date
- required to appear before a magistrate.
Community Work Permit (CWP)
A Community Work Permit allows you to work off your fine through community work. The hours you work is based on how much you owe.
To pay your outstanding fine through a CWP:
- the total amount outstanding must be equal to or less than the value of 100 penalty units (that’s 500 hours of community work or $16,522)
- you must have the ability to do community work
- you must agree with and meet the conditions of the permit.
If you meet and agree with the conditions of the permit, you'll be released on the spot. If you refuse or you’re not eligible for a CWP, you'll be arrested and bailed to appear before a magistrate.
These amounts are adjusted each July.
Note: It's an offence to breach terms of your Community Work Program.
Bail
To be eligible for bail, you must agree to the 'Undertaking of Bail' conditions, and you'll be required to appear in court at a later date.
If you agree to the conditions, you'll be released on the spot. If you're not offered bail, or don't agree to the conditions, you'll be taken to the nearest police station to appear before a magistrate within 24 hours.
Note: It's a serious offence to breach terms of your bail. You can risk severe penalties, including imprisonment.
Imprisonment and court hearings
When you appear in court, the magistrate will give you or your representative a chance to speak. The magistrate may decide to:
- make you pay the fine by instalments
- reduce the amount you owe
- make you do unpaid community work
- adjourn (delay) the matter
- imprison you.
If the magistrate believes you have special circumstances (intellectual disability, mental illness or disorder, addition to drugs or alcohol; or are homeless or suffering from family violence) or exceptional circumstances, they may withdraw part, or all of the fine.
Warrant to arrest
If you've appeared in court and you don’t pay a fine ordered by a magistrate or judge, a warrant for your arrest may be issued. If this happens, a Sheriff's officer will serve you a Seven Day Notice notifying you of:
- the amount owing
- what will happen if you don't make the payment
- the payment options available to you.
You'll have 7 days to deal with your fine – you can apply to pay for a payment arrangement or work and development permit. To do this, you'll need to attend the court that ordered the fine to submit your application.
If you don't finalise your matter within the 7 days, the Sheriff's officer will arrest you and take you to the nearest police station where you'll be:
- released on bail if you agree to conditions to appear in court at a later date
- brought before a judge within 24 hours.
The judge may decide to:
- make you pay the fine by instalments
- reduce the amount you owe
- make you complete unpaid community work
- adjourn (delay) the matter
- imprison you.