Infringement Amounts and Penalty Units

The penalty for an offence is set at a level that reflects the seriousness of the offence and provides the level of deterrence or punishment that is considered necessary.

Infringements fines for some offences in Queensland are based on a system of penalty units. The number of penalty units applied to an offence is set out in the State Penalties Enforcement Regulation.

A penalty unit is a set amount of money used to work out each fine.  One penalty unit currently equals to $161.30 as prescribed in the Penalties and Sentences Act 1999.

For example, it is an offence for an owner of a dog not to register the dog in the relevant local government’s area within 14 days after starting to keep the dog in the area unless the person has a reasonable excuse. The penalty units for an offence of this type is two therefore the infringement amount for this offence totals $322.00 (2 penalty units x $161.30 rounded down).