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Published: September 25, 2025
Responding to an Infringement Notice
What is an infringement notice?
A community member may receive a fine if they commit or it’s alleged they have committed a minor offence. These fines are called infringement notices.
Common types of infringement notices include:
- fines for speeding or other driving related offences,
- parking fines, and
- fines issued by the police.
Some fines are handed to you in person, while others may be posted or emailed to you.
An infringement notice will usually be in an approved form and included standard details, including personal details, circumstances of the fine, the amount to be paid for the offence, and how and where the fine may be paid.
Responding to an infringement notice?
A person can respond to an infringement notice by:
- paying the fine in full to the administering authority
- arranging to pay the fine by instalments, provided the fine is at least the threshold amount
- contacting the administering authority to dispute the fine or request it be withdrawn on public interest grounds
- elect to have the matter decided in a Magistrates Court
- if a vehicle is involved, giving the administering authority an illegal user declaration, a known or unknown user declaration, or a solid vehicle declaration
For most fines, you have 28 days to take steps to resolve the fine. If you don’t take action in this time, the government department that issued the fine will refer the infringement notice to SPER for collection. A registration fee will be added.
Different government departments have different processes for transferring fines to SPER. This sometimes happens straight after the end of the 28 days, others will take a few weeks to register the fine with SPER.
If a community member has not responded to an infringement notice within 28 days but it hasn’t been registered with SPER, the government department that issued the fine may be in the process of registering the infringement notice with SPER.
Paying the fine in full
If the person can afford to pay the fine in full, they can do this by making a payment directly to the government department that issued the fine. The infringement notice will usually detail how the fine can be paid.
Setting up a voluntary instalment plan
If a person is unable to pay the fine in full, they can enter a voluntary instalment plan with the administering authority, if:
- the fine is at least $200; and
- the application is made within 28 days.
The infringement notice should provide information about applying for a voluntary instalment plan. Generally, an application can be made by:
- contacting the government department that issued the fine; or
- completing and signing the ‘voluntary instalment plan’ section in the infringement notice and posting it to the agency. An initial payment of $60 must be included.
Note: This is not an additional payment. It will be applied to the infringement notice fine.
After the initial payment of $60 is received, the government department will register the remaining debt with SPER, who will then manage the debt. SPER will provide a voluntary instalment payment notice and plan to follow. If the community member enters a voluntary instalment plan, there is no registration fee when the plan is transferred to SPER.
If the person misses a payment, SPER may send an enforcement order, which will include the additional fee. If the person consistently fails to follow the payment schedule, their voluntary instalment plan will be cancelled, and they will be required to pay the debt in full.
A community member might ask for help with an infringement notice that they recently received while also having a larger debt already registered with SPER.
The community member may want to pay the new infringement notice or negotiate a resolution directly with the government department that issued the fine. They may also want to challenge the fine.
Alternatively, if they do nothing to respond to the fine, it will be registered with SPER and a registration fee will be added. If the community member already has a payment plan set up with SPER, the new infringement notice will be added to this payment plan.
Negotiating a resolution directly
A person can negotiate or dispute an infringement notice directly with the government department that issued the fine.
Most infringement notices will contain contact information for the government department. For example, an infringement notice concerning a camera-detected traffic offence will notify the recipient that the matter can be disputed via email to the Queensland Revenue Office.
The government department that issued the fine can withdraw and cancel an infringement notice before or after it has been sent to SPER for collection. Some departments will convert a fine to a warning.
Different government departments will consider different things before agreeing to withdraw and cancel an infringement notice. Some departments will withdraw a notice where it can be shown that the individual was not directly responsible for the act, had a reasonable excuse, where the infringement notice offence was directly connected to an experience of hardship, and/or it is not in the public interest to enforce the infringement notice. If you’re unsure, it can be helpful to contact the government department to discuss the options.
When negotiating or disputing an infringement notice, you should include any information or evidence that supports the community member’s claim.
If the infringement notice has been referred to SPER for collection, the government department authority can withdraw the infringement notice at any time before the fine is fully paid. They get the power to do this by s 28 of the State Penalties Enforcement Act.
Challenging the infringement notice in court
A community member may also want to challenge a fine in court. You usually need to take this step within 28 days – there’s usually information about challenging the fine on the infringement notice.
A community member should only pursue this option as a last resort or if they have a strong case.
If the matter goes to court and the alleged offender is unsuccessful, they will need to pay additional costs (such as an offender’s levy). If you form the view that the infringement notice was incorrectly issued or think the community member has a strong case to defend the infringement notice, you may want to contact the government department in the first instance to attempt to negotiate a resolution.
In most instances, a person that elects to have a matter heard in court will need to self-represent or engage private lawyers. There are limited free legal services to challenge infringement notices in court. However, we would encourage anyone wanting to challenge an infringement notice in court to get advice from a lawyer.
