Double Demerits Start 18 December in WA and 24 December in NSW and ACT

• Western Australia doubles demerit points from Friday 18 December 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027, a 17 day window.
• NSW and the ACT double points for 11 days, from 24 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, and the fine itself stays the same.
• Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory never double points, and Queensland doubles only a repeat offence within 12 months.

Western Australia Starts Six Days Earlier, and Its List Runs Longer

Three jurisdictions run a Christmas double demerit period in 2026, and they do not start together. Western Australia goes first, on Friday 18 December. New South Wales and the ACT follow on Thursday 24 December. All three end on Sunday 3 January 2027.

The rule in each place is the same at heart. Police record the offence as usual, the fine stays at its normal amount and the demerit points added to your record are doubled. A driver caught on a phone in NSW on Boxing Day pays the standard penalty and takes 10 points instead of 5.

In NSW and the ACT the periods cover the whole of the first day and run to midnight on the last. A driver detected just after midnight on 24 December in NSW or the ACT is inside the period; one detected just after midnight on 4 January is outside it.

The Road Safety Commission warns that its dates can change if legislation, regulation or policy shifts, so a driver planning a long trip should recheck the Commission page in mid December.

What Doubles in NSW and the ACT

Transport for NSW names five behaviours that double: speeding, illegal mobile phone use, not wearing a seatbelt or wearing it incorrectly, carrying a passenger who is not belted or restrained correctly, and riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Every other demerit offence collects its usual points.

The phone offence shows the stakes. Transport for NSW sets the fine for illegal phone use at $434, or $577 in a school zone, with 5 demerit points, rising to 10 in a double demerit period. The same amounts apply whether a police officer or a camera catches you.

Cameras are the part that changes behaviour. NSW mobile phone detection cameras, fixed and transportable, operate anywhere and at any time, in all weather, and they have also enforced seatbelt rules from 1 July 2024 onwards. They look at the driver and at passengers, so an unbelted back seat passenger earns the driver a fine and points. Images pass through several stages of human review, and Revenue NSW makes the final call before a fine goes out. Phone detection cameras operate in the ACT as well, and the territory’s holiday dates match those of NSW.

School zones add a wrinkle. In an operating school zone certain driving and parking offences pick up one extra point, but only speeding and phone offences are doubled there. The ACT’s own offence list and fine amounts sit with Access Canberra, so ACT drivers should read that page before leaving rather than assume NSW figures apply.

Speed is the offence Transport for NSW ties most closely to deaths: it contributes to about 40 percent of fatalities on NSW roads each year. Last Christmas the department opened its holiday plea with a figure for the year to date: 347 lives lost on NSW roads by 22 December 2025, 25 more than at the same point a year earlier.

Western Australia’s 14 Point Offences

WA doubles points for speeding, drink or drug driving, failing to wear a seatbelt or use a child restraint correctly, running a red light and illegal mobile phone use. Compared with the NSW list, WA adds drink and drug driving and red lights, and its list says nothing about motorcycle helmets.

The sharpest line sits at the end of the WA list. Two speed camera evasion offences, one for a car fitted with an anti-detection device and one for driving in a way meant to dodge the camera, each carry 14 points while the double demerit period runs.

WA runs a long calendar of these windows. In 2026 the Commission lists periods for Australia Day (23 to 26 January), Labour Day (27 February to 2 March), Easter (2 to 6 April), Anzac Day (24 to 27 April), Western Australia Day (29 May to 1 June) and the King’s Birthday (25 to 28 September). The previous Christmas window ran from 19 December 2025 to 4 January 2026. NSW has run periods for Australia Day, Easter, Anzac Day, the King’s Birthday and Labour Day (2 to 5 October) in 2026, and its previous Christmas period ran from 24 December 2025 to 4 January 2026, one day longer than this one.

Why Points Matter More Than the Fine

A fine is paid once. Points sit on the record and can end a licence. NSW sets suspension thresholds by licence class: 13 points on an unrestricted licence, 14 for professional drivers, 7 on a provisional P2, and 4 on both a provisional P1 and a learner licence. NSW points stay active for three years from the date of the offence.

Run the numbers on a single phone offence. A learner or P1 driver passes the limit of 4 with 5 points on an ordinary day, so a double period only deepens the hole to 10. A P2 driver is safe at 5 points against a limit of 7, but 10 points in a double period crosses it. An unrestricted driver who already has 4 active points reaches 14 with one doubled phone offence, one above the 13 point limit; the same offence outside the period would leave that driver on 9.

The States Where Nothing Doubles, and Queensland’s Version

Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory do not double demerit points at any time of year. A driver who crosses from Victoria into NSW on 24 December changes rule sets at the border, with nothing on the dashboard to say so. Victoria’s penalties are fixed all year: a mobile phone offence caught by a road safety camera costs $627 and 4 demerit points, and a seatbelt offence costs $418 and 3 points, as the Victorian Cup weekend blitz figures show. The same phone offence in NSW on Boxing Day costs $434 and 10 points.

Queensland sits between the two models. It has no holiday window, but a driver who commits certain offences twice inside 12 months takes double points for the second and any later offence, in any month of the year. A Queenslander who picks up an offence in March and repeats it in December is exposed to the doubling regardless of the calendar.

What to Do Before 18 December

Check your points first. Service NSW runs a demerit point checker for NSW licences, and WA’s Department of Transport offers a status check that asks for the licence number, your birth date and the licence expiry date. Know your total and your class limit before you set out: a margin of 3 or 4 points is gone after a single doubled offence.

Put the phone out of reach. The simplest fix for the most expensive double demerit offence is a boot, glovebox or mount that works without touching the handset. Belt every passenger, including those in the back. NSW cameras check them and the driver carries the penalty.

Budget the trip with slack. Regular unleaded averaged 233.8 cents a litre across the five big cities on 28 October, 62.9 cents above February, so a 50 litre fill costs $116.90. Build the stops and the arrival time around that, and nobody has a reason to make up lost minutes at speed.

If a notice arrives for an offence you did not commit, NSW lets you nominate the responsible person, and you can ask Revenue NSW to review a penalty notice you dispute; if the notice stands, you can choose to have the matter heard in court. A driver caught no more than 10 km/h over the limit who has held a clean record for 10 years can request a Revenue NSW review, and Revenue NSW decides whether to issue a caution, which carries no points and no fine.

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Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar