Isn't this a wonderful country that we live in? The orange and white sandy beaches, the crystal blue waters, the sunshine, a growing economy, and the incompetent state governments we have in charge of departments such as fine enforcement. 

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We really should be doing the right thing when it comes to obeying the laws of the state. This would include roads and traffic. But should there consistently be new laws without repealing old ones? For example; in NSW, drivers were to be informed of a speed camera at least 1km before where the camera was positioned. 

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However in 2021 this law was amended to no prior indicating signage for fixed speed cameras required. This meant that drivers were not made aware that a speed camera was within a short driving distance, in which, drivers would be caught speeding if they were travelling more than 10% over the speed limited. 

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Drivers should always obey the road rules, especially when it involved speeding, however there is a fine line between breaking the speed limit by 6km (which everyone in this country has been guilty of at some point in their lives), and raking out cash from the Australian people. 

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Due to the ridiculous handling of State funds through COVID-19, the state had to find some ways of recouping the money that was lost. One of these strategies was increasing the amount of fines given to the NSW residents. Removing speed camera notices was one sure way of actioning this plan. The results speak for themselves with an increase in issued infringements from 38,743 tickets in 2020 to a massive 361,896 infringements in 2021, and this was just for speed cameras. 

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The NSW state government has gone one step further to secure their revenue stream by making it literally a mountain to climb in order to battle the so called infringement given. 

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A good example of this is Nicolas Forelles from Neutral Bay Sydney. in 2018, Nicolas parked his car on Ben Boyd Road in Neutral Bay in a 2 hour paid parking zone marked with a sign, whilst visiting a friend. He paid the meter $8.80 as specified, as the hourly rate was $4.40, and already ridiculous inflammatory rate in the first place. He returned to his vehicle with just 3 minutes to spare on the meter and as per displayed on his ticket. 

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To his surprise, he returned to find a parking inspector lurched over his vehicle, illegally resting his gut across the bonnet looking into the window where the ticket was displayed. Just before Nicolas reached his vehicle, he noticed the parking officer writing out the ticket. Nicolas immediately asked the officer what he was doing. The officer did not respond and simply stared at Nicolas with the most blank look on his face, words could not flow from the officer's mouth, as if in shock. 

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Nicolas continued, as he looked at the ticket, seeing one minute remaining. Nicolas demanded the officer revoke the ticket. The officer stated that once the pen hits the paper on the infringement he has to continue to write up the rest of the ticket. 

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Nicolas insisted that the officer revoke the ticket, but as of that moment he was in between a rock and a hard place. Nicolas took a video of the officer and the ticket displaying the time. When Nicolas insisted the officer come up with some sort of explanation, he simply stated that he did not think Nicolas would have returned to his vehicle on time. 

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But despite taking down all of the officer's details and irately disputing the entire incident, Nicolas was about to face his toughest challenge yet. He rang through to the Officers supervisor at the North Sydney Council. Like a broken record, the supervisor continuously insisted that Nicolas dispute this matter in the local court by filling out the "Go To Court" section on the back of the infringement notice. Nicolas did just that. 

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The fine was placed on hold by the Infringement Processing Bureau (IPB) and a court date was issued to Nicolas to appear at the Downing Centre Court in the Sydney CBD several months later. Nicolas had to take a day off from work to attend what is known as the "Mention". This is where you simply line up at 9:30am in the morning and wait your turn to enter your plea to the magistrate. 

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The people who have appointed lawyers tend to be the first to enter their plea. Then the rest of the general public are called by their last names to come to the mic and state their plea to the magistrate. Nicolas could not believe what he was witnessing. One person after another pleading either guilty or not guilty. Those who pleaded guilty would have their punishment handed to them or be let off from the offence on the spot then and there. But what of the innocent people such as Nicolas. 

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After waiting since just before 9am, and sitting through the people with lawyers, then a lengthy morning tea, more people pleading, and then a long lunch (this is the NSW government people! - You know, brain dead robots, high pay and endless breaks throughout their mild shift), it was finally time for Nicolas to state his plea. The time was now around 3:50pm. "Not Guilty". Nicolas was expecting to be able to explain his situation along with his evidence. But no! The magistrate would then appoint yet another date for Nicolas to come back and present his evidence to the court, which would be 2 more months from that date of the mention. 

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Two months had passed, and Nicolas had to postpone his trip to Canberra he had planned on that week of the hearing. He attended the court, waited again for hours just to be called up. Across from him were two people, the officer who issued the fine pleading that he was not in the wrong, and a Sargent from the police force with a legal background defending the officer who issued the fine. 

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Attempting to find loopholes, the Sargent could not get through the fact that Nicolas had video footage. The Sargent would try and prevent Nicolas from showing the video using legal loopholes, but the magistrate allowed the evidence. 

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In the end, the magistrate set the matter aside and stated that Nicolas did not have to pay the parking fine which was about $90. 

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In the end, it cost Nicolas $50 to have the matter heard in court, 1 day out of work, a trip to Canberra cancelled, not to mention the stress of having to battle something he is not guilty of in court. 

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The state governments are well aware of this system and it is strategically setup like this in order to reduce the number of appeals through the court system. This means when stupid morons like that parking officer can make critical or vindictive errors and never have to suffer the consequences of their actions, leaving the general public liable for all monies owed. 

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Consequences for leaving a simple parking fine unattended can result in further costs added to the fine. If this doesn't work then the state government, through the intimidating arm of the NSW State Debt Recovery Office, issue licence suspensions and vehicle registration cancellations as a way of forcing an individual to pay that fine. And if this does not work they can send the Sherriff around to your home and repossess items valued to the fine in place. 

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This vile disgusting system needs to be rooted out in each state, particularly in NSW who seem to be the most in debt, which makes sense to the mastery of plans such as this to reap money from the public, and we are letting it happen! We need to be the ones to stand up and say no! No! No! No! And we do this by utilising the only thing that these public officials are most afraid of, their position in government. We need to press the matters to the local representatives and tell them that if these ridiculous money making schemes are not removed from the state government laws then they will not be sitting in their seat come next election. This is the only language they understand. 

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If the public do not stand up for these basic principles and root out all greed in the state government then perhaps we deserve what we get!