Fixing Fines FineFixer & Streamlinefines Marie Baird, Victoria Legal Aid & Brendan Lacota, Moonee Valley Legal Service

The Victorian Fines System Firstly - let’s introduce you to the villain of the piece: the Victorian Fines System (dramatic sound grab - hold up signs: ‘boo’ ‘hiss’) $1.5B in unpaid fines in Victoria and we know that fines disproportionately impact vulnerable people. People experiencing homelessness, who live their lives in public are more likely to receive public space fines, people experiencing mental ill-health and people who simply can’t afford to pay $200 for driving on a toll without paying tolls are hit harder by fines. People experiencing family violence are more likely to receive fines. So what can we do to make it easier for people to get the help they need, before things spiral out of control?

FineFixer finefixer.org.au FineFixer is a web tool to help people understand their fines and take action. We use tech to identify legal need, provide self help tools where the person has the legal capacity to self help, and refer when the person needs help.

Clean design, clear simple language, clearly separates itself from government websites and establishes the jurisdiction that applies.

Uses a person not knowing how many fines they have to identify that a self-help tool is probably not for them and sends them to get help.

For edge cases where someone has multiple fines, FineFixer gives the option to try and work through a few fines or to be referred to a CLC or Victoria Legal Aid. We err on the side of caution to ensure that people get legal help where they need it.

What about vulnerable people who need more help? FineFixer is great to help those with sufficient legal capability to use an online tool, but what about vulnerable people who need more help? Streamlinefines

Streamlinefines Streamlinefines combines health-justice partnerships and technology to make it quicker and easier assist vulnerable people to challenge infringement fines.

Streamlinefines We know that HJPs are an effective way to reach people with legal problems, we also know that a significant percentage of people within in-patient facilities have fines and that these fines can cause considerable stress and anxiety. Streamlinefines is a digital tool that will make it possible for legal and health workers to collaborate effectively in identifying people with fines and collating evidence to support applications for enforcement review. More clients identified and assisted earlier improving outcomes of applications through better evidence reducing pressure on legal and health services

Working with Paper Giant – design approach – Beta phase

Discovery interviews with health services – looking at the client journey to identify the current state and the blockers and enablers

Alpha What we learnt We are building a bucket - a lovely sturdy bucket with a good handle and lots of capacity, but ultimately a pretty simple receptacle The juicy bit are what’s happening around the bucket - who uses the bucket and how, what they put in it and when, the shared understanding of what the bucket is for and how it should be used

Innovation ≠ technology In the legal assistance sector we have a tendency to conflate innovation with technology. What these two projects show us is that there is no one tool that will fix complex access to justice problems. To create effective responses to legal need we have to start with the needs of the people most affected.