Unsafe budget backpacker accommodation lands owner with $60,000 fine

A Queensland woman who operated illegal and unsafe budget accommodation for backpackers has been fined more than $60,000, having previously been penalised more than $70,000 for fire safety offences.

Gatton woman Mayla Patterson pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to display signs in accommodation units, five counts of failing to maintain prescribed fire-safety installations and two counts of failing to prepare a fire-safety management plan within one year at her Gatton and Atkinsons Dam properties, west of Brisbane, in May 2018.

Offences included failing to install the required smoke alarm systems, emergency lighting, fire-safety management plans,…