Motorists who hold an overseas licence are the target of a new joint effort between the New South Wales Government and the Australian Border Force to stamp out a dubious practice of demerit point offloading.
Currently, there exists a loophole in which foreign drivers in Australia can nominate another overseas motorist if they’re charged with a driving offence.
Between May 2022 and January 2024, Revenue NSW reportedly identified 125,000 penalties carrying 256,000 demerit points being issued to nominated ‘international drivers’.
Up to 40,000 nominated drivers allegedly had their details procured from the dark web.
One individual, identified as an extreme case, amassed more than 1500 demerit points, while two others had racked up more than 500 demerit points each.
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In a bid to stamp out the practice, the Demerit Point Integrity Taskforce was established between Transport for NSW, NSW Police and Revenue NSW, and it’s now receiving the help of the Australian Border Force.
The border enforcement agency will help the Taskforce to “quickly establish whether a nominated driver could have even been behind the wheel of a car or riding a motorbike based on their passport record,” according to the NSW Government.
“In cases where they were not even in Australia, the system will be able to more quickly put the fine and demerit points back to the driver who falsely nominated someone else.”
NSW driver’s licence
The French Consulate in Sydney has become the first foreign office in New South Wales to assist the Taskforce by supporting a stricter verification process to obtain a licence in the state, which will require French licence holders to have their paperwork checked by the Transport for NSW Licence Integrity & Security team.
This follows French nationals reportedly being among the worst offenders in the practice of offloading demerit points, with more than 50 repeat offenders having their licences suspended following Taskforce investigations.
An address in Rosebery was reportedly used by 30 licence holders, who accumulated more than 2000 demerit points, combined.
From March 1, 2025, the New South Wales Government will also require long-term temporary visa holders who arrived in the state prior to July 1, 2023 to obtain a driver’s licence in the jurisdiction.
