A lower threshold of penalty points leading to disqualification will apply to any driver who is granted their first learner permit on or after 1 August 2014 while they drive under a learner permit, and subsequently during the first two years while they drive under their first full driving licence.
Note: Under the Graduated Driver Licence GDL system, learner drivers must always be accompanied by a fully qualified driver (not a novice).
Driving bans
If you build up 12 or more penalty points (as a fully licensed driver) or 7 or more penalty points (as a learner or novice driver) in 36 months:
• you will receive a notice telling you that you have been banned from driving for 6 months from a particular date; and
• you will have to post your driving licence to the NDLS within 14 days of the start of the driving ban.
You will be banned from driving if you are convicted in court of an
offence such as drink driving, dangerous driving or leaving the scene of a crash. You will be banned from driving as a result of the conviction alone, no matter how many penalty points are on your licence record.
The courts can issue driving bans for any offences involving vehicles, not just the offences already resulting in automatic bans. The court will decide the length of the ban in each case.
If you are convicted in court, you may be fined and, in some cases, face a prison term.
The time you spend banned from driving or without a licence does not count towards the 36-month penalty point period. The end date for the penalty points or disqualification period will be extended to cover the time lost. If you receive penalty points while banned from driving or while not holding a licence, the 36-month period for those points will be extended. If the new points result in another disqualification, your 6-month disqualification will also be extended.
It is an offence to drive while banned from doing so.