Tasmania Demerit Points: Thresholds and Accrual Windows Explained (2026)

Transport Tasmania, within the Department of State Growth, administers the demerit points system under the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 (Tas). A full Tasmanian licence allows up to 12 demerit points in a rolling 3-year window, while learner and provisional licences allow only 4 points in a much shorter 12-month window.

How Tasmania's demerit points system works

Transport Tasmania, a division of the Department of State Growth, administers driver licensing and the demerit points system for every class of Tasmanian licence. The legal basis for the system sits in the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 (Tas), with related offence provisions also found in the Traffic Act 1925 (Tas). Under section 22 of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 (Tas), demerit points are awarded automatically once a traffic infringement notice is served on a driver for a demerit points offence. Section 21 of the same Act separately allows a court to award demerit points on conviction. Points are calculated from the date of the offence, not the date of conviction or payment, and each licence class has its own threshold and accrual window.

The full licence threshold: 12 points over 3 years

A driver who holds a full Tasmanian licence can accumulate up to 12 demerit points before facing a suspension, and this total is tracked over a rolling 3-year window measured back from the date of the most recent offence. Because the window is 3 years, a point recorded more than 3 years before the current offence date drops out of the running total. This gives an experienced, full-licence driver considerably more room to absorb an isolated infringement than a novice driver has, reflecting Transport Tasmania's general approach of applying a lighter compliance regime as a driver's experience and licence class advance from learner to provisional to full.

The novice threshold: 4 points over 12 months, not 3 years

Learner and provisional licence holders in Tasmania face a materially different regime. Both classes are subject to a 4 demerit point threshold, but that threshold is measured over a much shorter 12-month accrual window rather than the 3-year window that applies to a full licence. The shorter window is a deliberate feature of Tasmania's graduated licensing approach: because a novice driver has less experience, a lower tolerance is paired with a tighter timeframe in which offending is assessed, so repeated infringements are more likely to trigger licence action within the novice period itself rather than being diluted across several years. A learner or provisional driver should treat any infringement notice as materially closer to a suspension risk than a full licence holder would.

What happens when a driver reaches the threshold

Reaching or exceeding the applicable demerit points threshold, whether 12 points for a full licence or 4 points for a learner or provisional licence, results in a licence suspension administered by Transport Tasmania, together with a period of ineligibility during which a new licence cannot be obtained. Full licence holders who are suspended on this basis may be able to apply for a Period of Good Behaviour as an alternative to serving the suspension immediately; this arrangement is completed through Service Tasmania rather than through the courts. Because the exact administrative process, required forms and any conditions attached to a Period of Good Behaviour can change, and because it is described as available to full licence holders specifically, a driver approaching their threshold, whatever their licence class, should contact Transport Tasmania or Service Tasmania directly to confirm the current process rather than relying on a general description.

A learner or provisional licence carries additional consequences beyond the ordinary demerit points count. Provisional (P1) licence holders who commit certain offences, including failing to wear a seatbelt, using a mobile phone (including hands-free) while driving, or exceeding the speed restrictions that apply to their licence, can be required to restart their 12-month P1 period entirely, separately from any demerit points and fine that also apply. Learner licence holders who fail to comply with their licence conditions, such as driving without an appropriate supervisory driver or failing to display L-plates, can also face a disqualification of several months in addition to demerit points and a fine. These novice-specific consequences apply on top of, not instead of, the general 4-point threshold described above.

Checking your points and disputing an infringement

A driver can check the number of demerit points recorded against their Tasmanian licence by calling Service Tasmania on 1300 13 55 13. This figure only reflects points already finalised; it will not show an infringement that has not yet been paid or that is still awaiting a court hearing, so a driver's true position can be worse than what Service Tasmania currently shows. If a driver believes demerit points were wrongly awarded, for example because of a vehicle identification error, they can contact Traffic Liaison Services at Tasmania Police rather than Transport Tasmania, since the underlying infringement notice is a Tasmania Police matter even though the resulting licence action is administered by Transport Tasmania.

Mobile phone and speeding penalties: how they are structured

Tasmania calculates its traffic infringement fines using a statutory penalty unit, which was re-indexed to $213 per unit for the 2026-27 financial year. Both mobile phone offences and speeding offences in Tasmania are expressed as a number of penalty units, and both carry demerit points in addition to the fine. This is the same structural approach used across most Australian jurisdictions, where the dollar fine is a multiple of a periodically re-indexed penalty unit and the demerit point count is set separately for each offence.

The precise number of penalty units and demerit points attached to Tasmania's mobile phone offence, and the current speeding fine bands by kilometres over the limit, could not be independently confirmed from a reliable primary source at the time of writing. Rather than publish an estimate, this page directs readers to Transport Tasmania's own published schedules at transport.tas.gov.au, and to speedcameras.tas.gov.au for camera-detected speeding enforcement, for the exact current figures. Readers should treat any mobile phone or speeding fine figure for Tasmania quoted elsewhere with caution unless it links back to one of those two sources.

BAC categories in Tasmania

Tasmania's drink-driving framework is built around blood alcohol concentration categories tied to licence class. A full licence holder is subject to the general 0.05 BAC limit. Learner and provisional licence holders are subject to a zero-alcohol limit of 0.00 BAC, meaning any detectable alcohol is an offence regardless of the general 0.05 limit that applies to full licence holders. Detailed penalty amounts, disqualification periods and interlock requirements for drink-driving offences in Tasmania are addressed in this site's drink-driving limits across Australia spoke; for the current Tasmanian penalty schedule specifically, consult transport.tas.gov.au directly.

How Tasmania compares with other Australian states

Tasmania's 12-point full-licence threshold matches Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, all of which also set the full-licence threshold at 12 points. Where Tasmania stands out is its treatment of novice drivers: pairing a 4-point threshold with a 12-month accrual window mirrors Queensland's structure (also 4 points in 1 year for both learner and provisional licences) and South Australia's flat 4-point novice threshold, but is stricter in timeframe terms than jurisdictions such as New South Wales, where novice thresholds are tiered by P1 and P2 stage but are still measured against the same 3-year window used for a full licence. A Tasmanian novice driver therefore has less time for an early infringement to fall outside the counting period than a novice driver in a state that uses a single 3-year window for every licence class.

Tasmania demerit points at a glance

Current fine schedules for mobile phone, speeding and other infringement notice offences should always be confirmed directly at transport.tas.gov.au, since penalty unit values and offence-specific fine and demerit figures are periodically re-indexed and were not able to be fully confirmed for this page.

This article provides general legal information about Tasmanian driving law as verified on 20 July 2026. It is not legal advice and does not account for your individual circumstances. For advice on a specific situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory. For current fine amounts, demerit point counts for specific offences, and the current process for a licence suspension or a Period of Good Behaviour application, contact Transport Tasmania directly.

Related reading: the Australia driving laws hub, how demerit points work across Australia, drink-driving limits across Australia, and demerit points pages for Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.