Queensland’s high-value seatbelt camera fines are being challenged over evidence quality, driver responsibility and fairness, raising questions about whether government revenue is being protected ahead of justice.

Like the Morrison government with Robodebt, the Queensland government – despite a change of political colour – still appears to have an appetite for gouging cash from citizens using penalty fines, despite doubts about the legitimacy of those fines.

As pressure mounted for an end to Robodebt (a program designed to claw back alleged welfare overpayments) the Morrison government continued chasing repayments despite growing evidence that the claims of debt were wrong in fact and law.

With Robodebt, the government prevented efforts to have the courts make a determination on the legality of the scheme by simply settling cases in the plaintiffs’ favour “on the court steps”. The tactic removed the possibility of court sanction and allowed the Robodebt scheme to roll on, spilling millions into government coffers by ripping off many of the most vulnerable members of society.

It seems the Queensland government may be adopting the same tactic – deflect, deny, keep billing – with its equally egregious seatbelt camera fine scheme.

Law in all Australian states is that the driver and all passengers must wear seat belts at all times – and correctly (ie, not under the arm). Queensland is an outlier in its application of the law, with fines more than double or triple most other states and loss of more penalty points ($1295 and four demerit points compared with $407 and three points in Victoria). Hence a possible extra incentive to keep the fine revenue rolling in.

One aspect of the penalty that has........

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