For the purpose of this discussion, the law we’re talking about is a Victorian law (Victoria being the Australian state where the reported offence is being charged).
The penalties for infringement offences in Victoria are defined as a combination of penalty units and/or custodial sentences. Penalty units have a monetary value assigned that is revised annually by the state treasurer.
For this particular crime, the penalty is 120 penalty units and/or up to 12 months jail. At the time of writing, 120 penalty units comes to a little over $23,077.
In a sense, yes. If the accused has the resources, they can attempt to appeal to higher courts on a variety of grounds.
My personal take on this when they amended the law a few weeks ago to include the Nazi salute was the police would likely only press charges if they were confident enough the evidence would make them stick, rather than risk having to spend half a day in a courthouse only to have a judge decide the offender was simply hailing a cab.
For the purpose of this discussion, the law we’re talking about is a Victorian law (Victoria being the Australian state where the reported offence is being charged). The penalties for infringement offences in Victoria are defined as a combination of penalty units and/or custodial sentences. Penalty units have a monetary value assigned that is revised annually by the state treasurer. For this particular crime, the penalty is 120 penalty units and/or up to 12 months jail. At the time of writing, 120 penalty units comes to a little over $23,077.
In a sense, yes. If the accused has the resources, they can attempt to appeal to higher courts on a variety of grounds. My personal take on this when they amended the law a few weeks ago to include the Nazi salute was the police would likely only press charges if they were confident enough the evidence would make them stick, rather than risk having to spend half a day in a courthouse only to have a judge decide the offender was simply hailing a cab.