UTR,
I spoke to CASA photo licencing in CB directly and the the following response:
Only initial licences are being processed at the moment ie. Student PL's, all others are in a box under the desk (including mine which has been there for well over a month). They have not charged for them yet because they couldn't under the old regulations and background police checks have not been done. Photo licences people have recieved already are merely a licence with a photo, no police checks done. Now that new regualtions are in place and background checks will be required for all licence holders by 31 Dec 05, they will start charging (which they can do under the new regs). Expect it to cost around $150. When they actually start charging up front is a matter of time, but all will be charged either up-front or retrospectively, even if you have already recieved your photo licence. If you have not had the background checks done, the new regulations allow them to suspend your licence until it has been done (this is not applicable for current ASIC holders). The new form the guy at CASA you spoke to is police background check form, the photo licence form remains the same. see
here
All photo licences and background checks will be charged for whether you have applied before they ask for payment or not. Even if you have recieved your photo licence, you will be required to pay the fee or they will suspend your licence at 31 Dec 04.
I have spoken to several different people is CASA and they all give you a different response WRT charging. I don't think any of them actually know, however this was the respose I got directly from the photo licencing department, so I would believe this the most (unfortunatley)!
I don't know how they can charge retrospectively, but apparently they can (that is what they tell me).