The Supreme Court held that a conviction for dangerous driving based on a guilty plea must be set aside where the magistrate's comments led the unrepresented accused to reasonably believe that a suspended fine and spent conviction were the only consequences, without any reference to the automatic imposition of demerit points that would result in licence disqualification. The Court held that 'consequences' of a plea under s 129(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 (WA) include the statutory imposition of demerit points, and that the magistrate's express contrast between disqualification for reckless driving and the offered alternative of dangerous driving compounded the misapprehension. The Court also delivered pointed criticism of the regulatory complexity of the demerit points scheme spread across multiple Acts and regulations, observing it was a 'labyrinth web of complexity better suited to a scavenger hunt at a Mensa picnic'.
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