How authorities charged drivers more than $200 each – for nothing

Drivers have been charged $800million over the past six years to pay for an updated government computer system that never actually got installed.

A former VicRoads employee revealed this week that the department was still operating on its old system, despite charging drivers an extra $35 annually.

The levy was introduced by the Baillieu government in July 2012 to help pay for costs of revolutionary database, RandL, which was abandoned in 2015, Herald Sun reports.

Vehicle owners have paid more than $200 each on top of their regular registrations, and while the system was dumped three years ago, the fee has not disappeared.

Vehicle owners have paid more than $200 each on top of their regular registrations for a system that was actually dumped three years ago (stock licence)

A massive $100 million had already been spent on the system before VicRoads decided it was not going to be implemented. 

The Andrews Government said on Thursday the fee was helping to ‘fund important upgrades and maintenance’, the publication reported. 

‘They’re still operating on the same computer system as before this was levied. The amount of money that disappeared with RandL was enormous,’ an anonymous whistleblower said.  

Facial recognition technology was intended to be part of the new licensing and registration database – a feature already utilised in other parts of the country.

The state’s current system is so far behind that it reportedly is incompatible with Victoria Police’s database.

A massive $100 million had already been spent on the system before VicRoads decided it was not going to be implemented (stock photo)

A massive $100 million had already been spent on the system before VicRoads decided it was not going to be implemented (stock photo)

VicRoads’ director of service strategy, Jill Fitzroy, said the state’s online portal was adequate in serving its purpose of ‘delivering the services Victorians expect’.

‘Our registration fees remain among the lowest in the country. Our new, online portal, MyVicRoads, has improved the way we deliver these essential services by allowing customers to access a range of services in a more convenient way,’ she said.

Current registration fees had helped make the government the one to invest more in the state’s road network than any government before, spokesman Ben McNair said.

‘Vehicle registration fees fund important upgrades and maintenance to keep our road network safe and reliable for the more than 4.6 million registered drivers across Victoria,’ he said. 



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