It depends on where your fine came from — and most Australian authorities don’t publish a timeframe at all. Revenue NSW says it will usually respond within 21 days. In Victoria, an internal review must be decided within 90 days. South Australia promises an initial response within 10 working days. Queensland, WA, the ACT, Tasmania and the NT publish nothing, so allow several weeks and follow up if you hear nothing.
Start your review letter in minutes →Free case-strength check first — if your grounds are weak, we’ll tell you · one flat price, $10 parking & toll, $15 everything else“How long does a fine review take?” sounds like it should have a number attached. It doesn’t, because there is no national fines system — each state and territory runs its own, with its own authority, its own rules and its own idea of how much it owes you in the way of a deadline.
Two jurisdictions commit to something you can actually hold them to. New South Wales publishes a service expectation of about three weeks. Victoria has a hard outer limit written into how the scheme works. The rest publish the process, the grounds and the evidence you need — but not a word about when you’ll hear back.
That gap matters more than it sounds, because the due date on your notice keeps ticking in the background. If you don’t know whether the fine is frozen while someone reads your letter, you’re left guessing whether silence means “still being considered” or “about to become an overdue fine with a late fee on top”.
Here’s the official position in every state and territory, taken from the relevant government pages in September 2026. Where a cell says not published, that’s not us guessing — it means the authority’s own pages don’t state a timeframe.
| State | Who decides | Published timeframe for a decision | Fine on hold while you wait? |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Revenue NSW | Usually 21 days. Complex reviews can take longer if Revenue NSW needs to contact the issuing authority. | Yes. The fine is put on hold while it’s investigated and stays on hold until you’re told the outcome. |
| VIC | The enforcement agency that issued the fine | Decided within 90 days. You may be asked for more information — reply quickly. | Yes. Fines included in the application are put on hold while it’s reviewed. |
| QLD | Queensland Revenue Office | Not published. QRO invites an email query first and says it will review what you provide and advise the outcome. (A driver nomination does have a published 14-day standard.) | Not stated. |
| WA | Department of Transport | Not published. The review form, the ground and the evidence needed are all published; a decision timeframe isn’t. | Not stated. |
| SA | SA Police, Expiation Notice Branch | Initial response within 10 working days under SA Police’s published review guidelines — an acknowledgement, not necessarily the decision. | Yes. The notice is suspended until the review is finalised, and the due date is extended if it stands. |
| ACT | Access Canberra | Not published for a withdrawal request. If you instead dispute liability, Access Canberra registers the matter with the Magistrates Court within 60 days. | Not stated. |
| TAS | The authority that issued the notice (not MPES) | Not published. MPES only collects payment — a withdrawal request goes to whoever issued the notice. | Not stated. |
| NT | The agency that issued the notice | Not published. The official guidance is simply to contact that agency immediately. | Not stated. |
Always go by the dates and instructions on your own notice — they override anything general, and they’re what the authority will hold you to.
Three authorities say plainly that your fine is paused while they consider your request. NSW puts it on hold until it has made a decision and told you. Victoria does the same for fines included in a review application. South Australia suspends the notice until the review is finalised, and extends the due date if the notice ends up standing.
Everywhere else, you’re working on an assumption — and the consequence of getting it wrong is real money. In Tasmania, for example, doing nothing about a notice leads to an enforcement order with a further fee added. That’s why the safest approach, in any state that hasn’t told you otherwise in writing, is to treat the original due date as live and keep proof of exactly when you lodged.
What you should not do while you wait is pay the fine to be safe. Paying is generally treated as finalising the matter, which can end your review before anyone has looked at it. If the deadline genuinely worries you, ask the authority for an extension or confirmation that the fine is on hold — that’s a separate, simple request.
Where authorities do explain delays, the same handful of causes come up:
Most of that is inside your control. A clear letter, sent to the right authority, with the evidence attached the first time, is the closest thing there is to a fast review. Our guide to the evidence that carries weight covers what to gather before you send.
A polite status request costs you nothing and doesn’t count against you. Reasonable markers:
Keep it to three things: confirm my request was received, confirm whether the fine is on hold, and tell me when I can expect a decision. Quote your notice number and the date you lodged. Don’t re-argue your case — that letter is already in front of them, and adding to it can restart the reading. There’s a copy-and-send version in the free tracker below, along with a page to write your own dates on.
A declined review isn’t automatically the end of it, but the next step is a genuinely different decision, not a repeat of the same one. Read what the decision letter actually says — it usually names the reason, and if it turned on something you can now prove, that’s worth knowing. Some states will accept a fresh request when you have new information that wasn’t before them; others allow one review only, and your letter will tell you which.
Having the matter heard in court is a separate path with its own deadline and its own risks, including higher costs if it doesn’t go your way. It’s worth understanding the difference before you choose — we’ve set it out in requesting a review versus going to court, and in what to do when your review is rejected.
And if the real problem is affording the fine rather than the fine itself, every authority above has payment plans, extensions or hardship options. Asking for one of those is a separate request, and a much more likely yes.
A printable two-pager: the official timeframe for all 8 states, whether your fine is on hold, a place to write your own dates and reference number, when to chase each authority, and a follow-up message you can copy. Pop in your email and it’s yours.
It depends on the state, and only some authorities publish a timeframe. Revenue NSW says it will usually respond within 21 days, and complex reviews can take longer. In Victoria, an internal review application is decided within 90 days. South Australia Police guidelines say a person requesting a review should receive an initial response within 10 working days. Queensland, Western Australia, the ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory publish no decision timeframe, so allow several weeks and follow up if you hear nothing.
In some states, yes. Revenue NSW puts the fine on hold while it investigates and keeps it on hold until it tells you the outcome. Fines Victoria puts fines included in a review application on hold while the application is considered. South Australia Police guidelines say the notice is suspended until the review is finalised and the due date is extended if the notice stands. Other states do not clearly publish this, so treat the due date on your notice as live until the authority confirms otherwise in writing.
Follow up in writing with the authority you lodged with, quoting your notice number and the date you lodged. Ask them to confirm the request was received, whether the fine is on hold, and when you can expect a decision. Keep it short and courteous — you are asking for a status update, not re-arguing your case. In NSW it is reasonable to ask after about 21 days; where nothing is published, about four weeks is a fair marker.
One flat price per letter: $10 for parking and unpaid-toll fines, $15 for all other fine types. No percentage of your fine. There is a free case-strength check before you pay, so if your grounds are weak we tell you first.
Fight My Fine is a self-help tool, not a law firm, and this article is general information, not legal advice. Timeframes are the ones each authority publishes and can change — the dates and instructions on your own notice always come first. The authority decides the outcome of a review; nothing here is a prediction or guarantee. Sources are listed above and were checked in September 2026.