A Judge or Magistrate can impose a fine as a penalty either with or without imposing another penalty for the same criminal or traffic offence in NSW.

A penalty can be imposed as an alternative to imposing other penalty options such as Imprisonment, intensive correction order, community correction order etc.

A fine cannot be imposed as an additional penalty if you end up getting a non-conviction under section 10 or Conditional Release Order.

In NSW, 1 penalty unit equals to $110. A fine cannot exceed more than 1000 penalty units.

If a fine is imposed on you when sentenced by the court, you’ll have within 28 days to pay the fine. However, you will also have an option to pay that amount in instalments if you’re unable to pay it within 28 days.

The payment by instalment option will be explained in the court document that you will end up receiving later in the mail from the court registry after your case is completed.