NSW to slash fines for welfare recipients.
Definition of welfare: statutory procedure or social effort designed to promote the basic physical and material well-being of people in need (emphasis mine)
NSW welfare recipients could have their fines slashed in half under a new state government plan designed to ease the financial burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Berejiklian government on Sunday announced that anyone on government benefit payments could apply to have fines collected by Revenue NSW reduced.
There is possibly a Biblical precedence for lower fines for people with less money. When defining the temple tax (Ex 30) God says "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less" (i.e. it's fixed) whereas the tithe depends directly on one's increase during the year.
However what's not on-line that I can see, but is in a newspaper, is that the reduction would apply to fines for "Continuation of intoxication and disorderly behaviour following move on direction".
A couple of trigger points here: 1) 30% of retired Australians live off their Super, not the pension. They miss out again. 2) people spending money gifted to them by the tax-payers for their "basic physical and material well-being" on enough alcohol to get them to the point of "Continuation of intoxication and disorderly behaviour".
NSW to slash fines for welfare recipients | Hunter Valley News | Muswellbrook, NSW