Tasmania has used penalty units since 1987. The amount to be paid is expressed in penalty units. The Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987 was amended in 2007 to provide for the periodic indexation of the dollar value of a penalty unit.

Section 4A of the Act provides that the value of a penalty unit is adjusted in $10 increments, based on the consumer price index (CPI) movements in the previous year. It does not increase every year, only when the CPI pushes it over each $10 barrier.

The Act requires that on or before 1 July each year, the Minister is to publish a notice in the Gazette specifying the value of a penalty unit for the following financial year, whether or not the value is to be increased.

The penalties are too high but the Tasmanian update system is far more reasonable than some of the mainland states.

The 3 offences are the same $ value but only 270(1)(a) and 270(1)(b) are demerit point offences.

Offence descriptions and meanings have become distorted over time. Originally the descriptions and details were included in the road rules or traffic acts and so the meanings were clear.

The volume of offences and the number of officials who needed access to the information increased and so the penalties and descriptions were moved to separate legislation and the practice of using "short descriptions" in the penalty legislation began.

This now means the infringement notices as issued may mean other than what they state. The offence and penalty legislation have clauses which state in effect that the short description means the same as the long description contained in the regulations.