May 6, 2022
A team of enforcement officers from the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) will be conducting operations across the South Burnett over the coming week to crack down on people who refuse to pay their SPER debts.
SPER Enforcement Director Kim Easton said about 20,000 individuals and businesses across the Wide Bay Burnett region owed nearly $55 million in unpaid fines and penalties.
“SPER enforcement officers will be conducting a field enforcement operation across the region focusing on Kingaroy, Nanango and surrounding areas to encourage debtors in these towns to pay the money they owe the people of Queensland,” Mr Easton said.
“Debtors who refuse to pay their SPER debts can have money taken from their wages or bank accounts or have their cars clamped, seized and towed to encourage them to meet their obligations.
“This will involve SPER officers visiting debtors’ homes or workplaces.”
He said recent operations in Townsville, Cairns, Gladstone and Rockhampton had recovered $10 million in collections and payment plan commitments.
During these operations, more than 90 vehicles were seized, with many other vehicle owners paying their debts on the spot.
More than 30 of the seized vehicles have been sold to pay down their owners’ debts.
Mr Easton encouraged anyone in the South Burnett with an outstanding debt to contact SPER before it was necessary for officers to take enforcement action.
“SPER debts are money owed to Queenslanders and debtors who continually ignore warnings and refuse to pay will be subject to tough consequences,” he said.
“SPER debts don’t go away – they will catch up with you.
“Anyone who is having trouble paying for whatever reason should contact SPER to discuss available payment options to avoid enforcement action.”
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Raw video of enforcement officers in action
The Qld Government needs to ensure that the debts are real before sending SPER after people.
An example is the issue with the overhead variable speed signs being illegible at certain times of the day, sunlight reflecting off the sign. This is a known issue to TMR and because it is too expensive to rectify, they are going to do nothing.
Another example is collection of overdue toll fees. People have to try and deal with multiple agencies if they wish to contest this. Why is there not a single point for people to contest the fees?