Fines can be imposed by themselves or as an additional penalty to any good behaviour bond, except for ‘section 10 dismissals or conditional release orders’ (see section 14 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)).
So, for example, an offender may get a 2 year good behaviour bond and ordered to pay a $1000 fine.
Fines must usually be paid to the Court Registry within 28 days. However, if the offender is under financial hardship, he or she can ask the Court Registry to extend the payment period.
Fines can also be ordered as an additional or alternative penalty to imprisonment for any offence that is being dealt with on indictment (section 15).
In such cases, the fine cannot be more than 1000 penalty units (1 penalty unit is currently $110) (s15(2) & 17).
A fine can also be imposed in addition to or instead of any other penalty that may be imposed for an such an offence (eg community service, periodic detention, home detention etc) (s15(3)).