Campaign aimed to raise $99,000 to pay off fines of Aboriginal women jailed in Western Australia

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An Aboriginal woman who had been jailed for unpaid fines is expected to be released on Wednesday after her fines were paid off by the organisers of a crowd funding campaign.

The campaign began on Monday and within 48-hours had met its original goal of raising $99,000 to pay off the fines of 100 Aboriginal women who faced jail for non-payment of fines in Western Australia. As of Wednesday afternoon it had raised more than $160,000 and set a new target of amassing 10,000 donors.

According to figures from the WA department of corrective services, as of Wednesday there were only four people – two men and two women – in custody solely for non-payment of fines.

But the organisers of the campaign were told that there as many as 30 women in Perth’s prisons with unpaid fines, which they may be paying down while incarcerated for other reasons.

Organisers have already identified more than 10 women whose debts will be paid immediately, including the woman who was expected to be released from jail on Wednesday.

The list also includes a $3,100 debt from a mother-of-three who was unable to call police to respond to domestic violence concerns until her debt was cleared or face arrest herself, and a $2,456 debt against a 22-year-old mother pregnant with her second child.

As of Tuesday night, they had paid off a total of $16,000 in fines. The money is not provided to the women themselves but is paid directly to the fines enforcement registry.

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The Sisters Inside chief executive, Debbie Kilroy, who started the fundraiser, said she was overwhelmed by the response.

“My heart is so warm and I am uplifted,” she said. “It’s a clear message to the WA government to lift their game and change the legislation as a matter of urgency, not in the middle of the year.”

Under current WA law, the fines enforcement registrar can issue a warrant of commitment against a person who has unpaid court fines.

The McGowan government promised to change the law before winning the 2017 election, after a coronial inquest into the 2014 death in custody of Yamatji woman Ms Dhu recommended the practice be abolished.

Since Ms Dhu died, police procedures have changed so that people cannot serve out unpaid fines in police cells or watch houses but must be transferred to a prison. A spokesman for WA police said police did not have the option not to execute an active warrant.

The number of people jailed solely for unpaid fines fell to fewer than 10 a month on average in 2018, down from as many as 20 a month in January 2017.

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Gerry Georgatos, who is coordinating the fine repayments in Perth, said he had been overwhelmed with calls from people who are currently at risk of being jailed due to unpaid fines.

Some of those fines were as high as $30,000. Georgatos said he was working with police to help set up a payment plan for those with the largest debts.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general, John Quigley, said that legislation to change the law would be put before parliament by the middle of the year. She said the government took the issue “very seriously”.

“The attorney general is committed to ensuring the quality and content of the statute book and he will introduce this comprehensive package of reforms as soon as possible,” she said.

Quigley has also flagged plans to garnish the Centrelink payments or wages of people who do not pay their fines, a proposal that Kilroy said would further punish those too poor to pay.