A rejection isn’t the end — but your realistic options are now three. You usually have a fixed window (commonly 28 days from the decision) to pay, set up a payment plan, or elect to have the matter heard in court. Each is the right answer for someone. Here’s how to tell which one is right for you — including when paying is simply the smart move.
The letter (or email) rejecting your review tells you two things that matter more than anything on this page: your deadline and how to elect court if you choose to. Miss the deadline and the fine moves toward enforcement — extra costs, and eventually licence or registration sanctions. Whatever you decide, decide inside the window. In NSW you generally get 28 days from the review decision to elect court; in Victoria it’s also 28 days to pay or elect. Other states set their own windows — the letter is authoritative.
One more thing worth knowing: you generally can’t ask for a second internal review of the same notice. If the rejection felt like a copy-paste form letter that never engaged with your evidence — a common complaint — the formal way to put that evidence in front of a human is court.
Electing court takes the matter to your Local or Magistrates’ Court. You’ll be sent a court attendance notice, typically some weeks later, and a magistrate — often the first person to genuinely examine your evidence — decides the matter. Recent camera-fine cases have been dismissed exactly this way.
Before electing, get advice — it’s free: the duty lawyer at court, your state’s Legal Aid, or a community legal centre. A short conversation now beats a bad surprise later. Magistrates can also deal with a proven offence leniently (dismissals and no-conviction outcomes exist in most states), which is worth asking the lawyer about.
We help people fight fines, so believe us when we say this without spin: after a rejected review, paying is often the rational choice. If your grounds were soft to begin with, if the fine is small compared with a day in court, or if you can’t carry the risk of a higher penalty — paying isn’t giving up, it’s good judgment. Payment finalises the matter (any demerit points still apply), and no enforcement costs pile on.
That’s also the honest lesson for next time: the review stage is where most fines are actually won, and the quality of the original review request matters. Strong evidence, tied to a specific ground, in a clear letter — before the first decision — beats anything you can do after it.
If the problem isn’t the fine’s fairness but its size, don’t ignore it — enforcement only makes it bigger. Every state offers ways through:
If a council handled your parking-fine review unfairly — ignored your evidence, missed its own deadlines, applied a blanket "no" policy — you can complain to your state Ombudsman. Be clear-eyed about what this does: the Ombudsman reviews the council’s conduct, not the fine itself, and it won’t pause your payment deadline. But councils have re-opened reviews after Ombudsman scrutiny, and patterns of complaints change behaviour.
Fight My Fine works at the review stage — the free case-strength check and the letter happen before the authority’s first decision, because that’s where the leverage is. We don’t handle court matters, and this page exists because the honest answer after a rejection is sometimes “pay it”. If we rated your dispute Strong and the authority still rejected it in full, our money-back guarantee applies — that’s the deal we made. And if you get another fine someday: check it before you pay it.
Generally no — you get one internal review per notice. An agency may take another look if genuinely new evidence emerges, but you can’t count on it. After a rejection, the formal path to challenge the fine is electing to have it heard in court, within the deadline on your decision letter.
Often not, honestly. Court means time, possible costs, and the court can impose more than the original fine. It makes most sense when your evidence is strong and was clearly never engaged with, or when the stakes are high — for example demerit points that would cost you your licence. For a small fine with soft grounds, paying is usually the rational choice.
It can. The maximum penalty a court can impose is often higher than the original fine, and you can be ordered to pay court costs. On the other hand, court is frequently the first point where a human genuinely examines your evidence, and magistrates can dismiss a matter or deal with it leniently. Get legal advice before electing — a duty lawyer, Legal Aid or a community legal centre can help free of charge.
Yes. Payment finalises the fine, and any demerit points attached to the offence still apply. Paying after a rejected review isn’t giving up — for many people it’s simply the option whose costs and risks are smallest.
Fight My Fine is a self-help tool, not a law firm, and this page is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines and processes vary by state and change over time — your decision letter is always the authoritative source. Court decisions carry real risks and you should get legal advice before electing; Legal Aid and community legal centres offer free help. The issuing authority (or the court) makes the final decision on any matter.