Appealing your fine
About internal review
If you have been issued with an infringement by the City of Greater Bendigo and believe you have a valid reason for it to be withdrawn, you have the right to appeal the fine once. This is known as applying for an internal review.
Infringements cannot be cancelled unless you apply for an internal review. All internal review applications and correspondence must be in writing, you cannot request an internal review over the phone or in person.
Please note:
-
The Mayor and Councillors can't be involved in the internal review process and are unable to respond to letters/enquiries regarding fines. All correspondence regarding internal reviews must be directed to the Review Officer
-
You are only entitled to one internal review for each infringement in Victoria. Applications for additional reviews may not be accepted. To ensure the City can provide full consideration to your review, please ensure you provide all relevant details and evidence to support your application on the first occasion
-
Applying for an internal review for someone else: We can't accept applications for an internal review from someone other than who the fine was issued to, unless we have their permission. If you are applying for someone else please complete the Third Party Consent Form and provide a copy along with your application for internal review
-
You will be notified in writing of the outcome of the internal review. If you have not received a written response and would like to check that your application for internal review has been received, please contact the City of Greater Bendigo on 1300 002 642
-
Infringements which have been referred to Fines Victoria or the Magistrates' Court can't be subject to an internal review by the City of Greater Bendigo. Further information regarding infringements, the fine's lifecycle, who is involved and your rights and responsibilities is available from Fines Victoria, which is the Victorian Government administrative body for infringements
Applying for an internal review
You are required to supply specific information before the City of Greater Bendigo can conduct an internal review. To ensure you provide all the information required, please fill in the City's Application for Internal Review form. Applications which don't provide all of the information required in this form may not be accepted.
Complete an Application for Internal Review.
Infringement placed on hold after an internal review is submitted
Once an application for internal review is received, the infringement is put on hold so that no further penalties, such as late fees, will occur. If an appeal is submitted after the late fees are applied to the infringement, the extra fee will be added to the infringement's total cost.
If you submit your application online you will receive a message after you submit advising that the application has been successfully submitted. You will not receive any further notification that the appeal has been submitted and if you submit a hard copy you will not receive any notification that your application has been received. However, if you are unsure that the appeal has been submitted correctly, don't hesitate to contact Council on 1300 002 642 to confirm before submitting another appeal.
It can take several weeks for an internal review to be finalised and the outcome of the appeal determined, the process can take up to 90 days. Please do not make any payments on the infringement until you have been notified of the outcome.
Legal assistance
The following services are available if you require legal assistance:
- Victoria Legal Aid
- Federation of Community Legal Centres
- Justice Connect Homeless Law
- Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service Centre
- YouthLaw
Frequently asked questions
If you don't act on your infringement before the due date, your infringement will continue through the Fines Lifecycle with more costs added at each step. Failing to deal with your fine before each step can also reduce the options available to you.
If you leave your infringement for too long it may result in an enforcement warrant being issued against you. This could lead to the following action by a Sheriff's Officer who may:
- Wheel clamp your vehicle
- Come to your home and demand payment
- Stop you at a police road block
- Take your personal property and sell it at a public auction
- Remove the number plates from your vehicle
- Arrest you
You can no longer apply for an internal review with the City of Greater Bendigo. The due date on the infringement notice and reminder notice have both expired, the fine now sits with Fines Victoria, you should contact them regarding your options.
As you are only entitled to one internal review per infringement you can't apply for more reviews after it has been completed and you have received your response.
However if you have information which you have not previously provided, or a situation you have not advised us of, the City of Greater Bendigo may give further consideration based on these circumstances. Please be aware, writing to tell us the same information again will not result in a different outcome.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your internal review and would like to take the matter further, you may choose to have the matter heard and determined in court by a Magistrate. If you would like to have the matter heard in court we only require advice of this in writing, we will then contact you to confirm your intention and have the matter listed for hearing.
You can apply for a payment plan or an extension of time by calling the City of Greater Bendigo on 1300 002 642
If you are experiencing acute financial hardship such as being homeless or at risk of homelessness you may wish to apply for internal review based on your current circumstances. To provide consideration based on your financial situation we require confirmation of your acute financial hardship from an agency providing you with financial counselling, support or homelessness services. This confirmation must be in the form of a letter on agency letterhead from:
- A welfare agency or;
- A Financial Counselor or;
- Case worker or;
- Case manager or;
- Centrelink
If you require additional time to obtain information to support your application, or would like to discuss your options, please call the City of Greater Bendigo on 1300 002 642 for assistance.
Further information regarding your options is available from Fines Victoria
If you would like to discus your options or the details of your fine you can call the City of Greater Bendigo on 1300 002 642. However as all internal review correspondence must be in writing, information discussed in person or over the phone cannot be taken into consideration in an internal review.
Your phone conversation will not result in the infringement being withdrawn.
The review team aim to complete internal reviews and send correspondence informing applicants of the outcome within 2 weeks (14 days). However reviews can take longer depending on the need for more detailed investigation and the availability of evidence. The length of time an internal review takes can also depend on the number of applications being processed at the time. All applications and applicants are given the same level of consideration. Internal reviews can take up to 90 days to complete.
To ensure the review team can complete your internal review in the shortest time possible, please make sure you provide:
- All relevant evidence to support your application
- Correct name, complete address and contact details and;
- Ensure you fill out the review form correctly
If you apply for an internal review, have not heard back and are worried your application may not have been received, or you may not have received the City's reply. Please contact the City's Customer Service Centre on 1300 002 642.
Download a printable version of the application for internal review.