The Infringements Working Group (IWG), a joint working group of the Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria), Victoria Legal Aid, and Financial Counselling Victoria, has urged the Department of Justice and Community Safety to prioritise fairness and hardship-informed practice in remaking the Fines Regulations 2025. The submission opposes increases to administrative fees and recommends a concessional fee‑waiver scheme for people on low incomes, alongside plain‑language fines correspondence that clearly explains all resolution pathways and includes visible referrals to legal and financial counselling services. It also urges additional funding for community legal centres, Victoria Legal Aid, and financial counsellors to manage the increased demand that will follow better referrals, noting the cost‑of‑living context and the risk that higher fees will entrench poverty rather than promote early engagement. Financial Counselling Victoria contributed statistics, and authored sections on hardship and vulnerability.

Beyond the core proposals, the submission recommends expanding the definition of homelessness to include people living in rooming houses or in severely crowded accommodation, increasing minimum debt thresholds for enforcement actions and protected income levels for social security recipients, and extending vehicle detainment and sale timeframes to 28 days to allow people time to seek advice. This submission was made via the Infringements Working Group, which includes 38 organisations named in the report.