Queensland Consolidated Acts

PENALTIES AND SENTENCES ACT 1992 - SECT 5

5 Meaning of penalty unit

(1) The value of a penalty unit is—

(a) for the SPE Act or an infringement notice, other than an infringement notice for an offence against a law mentioned in paragraph (b) , (c) or (d) —

(i) the amount prescribed under section 5A ; or

(ii) if no amount is prescribed—$110; or

(b) for a local law, or an infringement notice for an offence against a local law, made by a local government prescribed under a regulation—$75; or

(c) for a local law, or an infringement notice for an offence against a local law made by a local government to which paragraph (b) does not apply or made under clause 35 of the Alcan agreement—

(i) the amount prescribed under section 5A ; or

(ii) if no amount is prescribed—$110; or

(d) for the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 , the Electrical Safety Act 2002 , the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 or an infringement notice for an offence against any of those Acts—$100; or

(e) in any other case, for this Act or another Act—

(i) the amount prescribed under section 5A ; or

(ii) if no amount is prescribed—$110.

(2) If an Act expresses a penalty or other matter as a number (whether whole or fractional) of penalty units, the monetary value of the penalty or other matter is the number of dollars obtained by multiplying the value of a penalty unit by the number of penalty units.

(2A) However, if the monetary value of the penalty obtained under subsection (2) for an infringement notice is not a multiple of $1, the amount is rounded down to the nearest multiple of $1.

Example—

If the prescribed amount of a penalty unit under subsection (1) (a) (i) is $115.25 and an infringement notice prescribes a fine of 3 penalty units, the monetary value of the fine is $345, rounded down from $345.75.

(3) If an order of a court expresses a penalty or other matter as a monetary value, the number of penalty units is to be calculated by dividing the monetary value by the value of a penalty unit as at the time the order is made.

(4) For the purposes of this or another Act a reference to a penalty of a specified number of penalty units is a reference to a fine of that number of penalty units.

Example—

‘Maximum penalty—10 penalty units’ means the offender is liable to a maximum fine of 10 penalty units.

(5) In this section—

"Alcan agreement" means the agreement made under the Alcan Queensland Pty. Limited Agreement Act 1965 .

"infringement notice" means an infringement notice under the SPE Act .