When pet owner and single mother Jo Marshall moved from Queensland to NSW in 2020, she brought her nine-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback, Rose, with her.
Rose has been registered with her NSW local council since then, but last month Marshall received an unexpected fine in the mail demanding she cough up hundreds of dollars or lose her driver’s licence.
Marshall told 7NEWS.com.au she had moved to Noosa in 2018, but left two years later — with her daughter and her dog — after a painful divorce.
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She said she did not realise she needed to cancel Rose’s registration — or that a debt would accrue if she failed to do so.
In the two-and-a-half years that followed, Marshall received digital notices from Sunshine Coast Council but said they were “only to say you need to renew your dog registration”.
“But I wasn’t living there, so I deleted (them),” she said.
The consequences of failing to update her address were only made clear when Marshall received an overdue debt notice from the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER).
It gave Marshall two weeks to pay $348 and warned: “We will suspend your licence if you do not pay.”
The SPER website states such a suspension prohibits driving on a “Queensland driver licence” or “an interstate driver licence, if you have previously held a Queensland driver licence”.
Like so many people struggling to cope amid the cost of living crisis, Marshall lives week-to-week.
But at this stage of the enforcement process, she was left with no option but to pay the fine.
“I live in a rural country town and my daughter is at boarding school, I do 1000km a week. I need my licence,” Marshall told 7NEWS.com.au.
She tried to dispute the fine, and even cited the difficult reasons behind her relocation in 2020, but said on social media: “They have the fine print behind them.”
“Otherwise, I would fight it. They should be more transparent,” she posted.
“They sent it to me, they can see I don’t live in Queensland anymore. It’s not like I still live in Queensland and haven’t updated the details.
“It is disgraceful,” Marshall said, confirming she had arranged a payment plan for the sum owed.
The Sunshine Coast Council website states: “Failure to renew your registration for a cat or dog requiring annual registration may result in an on-the-spot fine being issued.”
It does not appear to clearly state the consequences of failing to update changes of address.
7NEWS.com.au has contacted Sunshine Coast Council for comment.
‘A freaking joke’
Marshall isn’t the only pet owner caught out by assuming registration would lapse automatically. When Marshall shared her experience on social media, another former local James Keily said: “The same (thing) happened to me.
“I spent hours on the phone, and (visited) the Noosa Council (twice) from Brisbane. All was a complete waste of time.
“The fine was unable to be reversed as it was now in the hands of SPER and, again, the threat of having my driver licence cancelled was used.”
Another resident said: “Happened to me with a dog. Spoke to council. Bloody crazy. I work hard. Forgot to unregister him and got $350 fine.”
“Thanks for the heads-up,” another wrote. “(I) would have assumed (that) paying in a different council would automatically cancel our (registration in) the original council.”
“What a freaking joke,” another wrote.
Some people even used Marshall’s post to tag their partners, reminding them to cancel their own pet’s registration.
“We had better cancel Bailey then,” one person wrote.