penalty unit

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penalty unit (plural penalty units)

1. (Australia, criminal law) An amount of money, used as a basis of a penalty fine, which can be adjusted by the government without the need to pass new legislation.
   • 2002, Kate Warner, Sentencing in Tasmania, page 124:

     In 1987 the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act introduced a new scheme for financial penalties. The penalty provisions in a number of Acts containing commonly occurring offences were amended to specify the fine in penalty units rather than a specific sum. The value of a penalty unit is specified in the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act, s 4, currently at $100. All offences now specify fines in penalty units.

   • 2008, Jules Aldous, Making and Breaking the Law: VCE Units 3 and 4, page 311:

     Usually an Act sets a maximum fine or penalty for a particular offence, measured in penalty units, which have a monetary equivalent. For example, under Section 46(2) of the Road Safety Act 1986, ‘a person who fails to stop the vehicle when requested or signalled is guilty of an offence. Penalty: eight penalty units’.

   • 2010, CCH Australia Limited, Australian Master Human Resources Guide 2010, page 1144:

     A person must not use a listening device to record a private conversation to which the person is a party. Where an individual breaches this provision, the person may be liable to a fine of 50 penalty units ($5,000). Where the offence is committed by a corporation, the corporation may be liable to a fine of 50 penalty units ($25,000).