Former police officer and Australian Labor Party (ALP) electoral candidate Naomi Oakley has called for the demerit points system to be revised, saying it’s “too easy” for motorists to lose their driver’s licence.
Ms Oakley, who was a Victoria Police officer for 12 years, is the ALP candidate for the Victorian seat of Casey, which covers an area north of Melbourne including the Yarra Ranges and stretching east towards Mansfield.
In a submission to an ALP committee, Ms Oakley called for changes to penalties, saying the existing circumstances are unfair to Victorian drivers and make it too easy for them to lose their licence.
“The current penalty framework, combined with the growing number of speed cameras across suburban and urban areas, is placing disproportionate pressure on everyday drivers,” Ms Oakley’s submission said.
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“This is particularly evident in relation to the three-year demerit point accumulation window, which is resulting in higher levels of licence suspensions and, subsequently, unlicenced driving.”
The Victorian state government does not publish the number of drivers who have had their driver’s licence suspended or cancelled.
However, a total 51,150 fines for driving while unlicenced were issued across Australia in 2024, according to the federal government website roadsafety.gov.au.
Of those, 7090 were issued in Victoria, ranking it third behind Queensland (25,135) and New South Wales (9355).
Victoria falls to fifth of the eight Australian states and territories when it comes to the number of fines for driving unlicenced per 10,000 licence holders, at 13 – behind Queensland (60 per 10,000), South Australia (49), Northern Territory (26), and NSW (15).
To combat the number of unlicenced drivers, Ms Oakley said the reset point for demerit points should occur sooner.
“A two-year window is a more balanced response measure for low-level or infrequent offences, avoiding excessive penalties for otherwise responsible drivers,” Ms Oakley’s submission said.
“Reducing the demerit point window from three years to two years will maintain road safety while delivering a fairer, more balanced system that supports both compliance and community wellbeing.”
The ALP candidate also pointed to speed cameras and changes to speed limits as unfairly pushing up the number of infringements.
“Post-Covid, there has been a marked increase in speed cameras, including in built-up and suburban streets where speed has not historically been a significant issue,” the submission said.
“Urban speed zones have decreased (eg: from 40km/h to 30km/h), amplifying the impact of minor breaches.”
Of 3.3 million speeding fines issued nationally in 2024, approximately 2.8 million (83.6 per cent) came from speed cameras.
Mobile phone detection cameras accounted for 87.6 per cent of the 330,926 fines issued for phone use infringements – with the number of fines more than tripling since 2019.
The same proportion of the 183,315 seatbelt fines recorded in 2024 were camera-enforced, with 3.5 times the total number of infringements issued.
The Queensland state government posted record revenue of nearly $465 million by fining motorists in the 2023-2024 financial year, up from $171.2 million between 2019-2020 – despite the number of fines going down in that time.
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