Page 2854 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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infringement fees for the illegal use of a disabled parking bay will increase substantially, from $241 to $600. This is a clear signal from the government of how serious we are about ensuring fair access to and proper use of disability parking spaces.
Parking operations has recently obtained licence plate recognition cameras which are car mounted and able to determine if a car is illegally parked. These cameras are currently being trialled and tested in a number of areas around Canberra.
Parking operations is investigating the possibility of mobility permits being embedded with RFID or similar technology to allow parking inspectors and cameras to electronically interrogate the permit and issue infringements to vehicles displaying expired, lost, stolen or deceased client permits or no permit at all. We will continue to investigate technologies and procedures to patrol more efficiently and enforce lawful use of disabled parking spots.
I would like to restate that this government is strongly committed to ensuring that access to and appropriate use of the disability parking spaces available across the territory is maintained and improved, and will continue to use all the surveillance and enforcement tools available to it to achieve this.
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (6.22): As I foreshadowed earlier, the Canberra Liberals will be supporting the amendments moved by the government, given that they are minor changes which do not take away at all from the purpose and intent of the motion that I bring today. I thank Minister Gentleman and Minister Ramsay for speaking in the lead-up to this motion, and also Minister Fitzharris for speaking on Minister Ramsay’s behalf. I thank Ms Le Couteur for her ongoing support on this important issue. It is good to see that we have reached a tripartisan agreement on another issue.
As Minister Fitzharris said, parking as an issue for discussion may not be interesting to anyone perhaps outside of international parking conference attendees, but it is an important one for our community. I am very thankful to all the members who contributed, and even more for the fact that they have supported what I have said.
The issue that Ms Le Couteur raised about the lack of numbers of mobility parking spaces is an important one. Even if you break it down into the figures that are available, over 22,000 permits in use for Canberra’s population with a code standard of three per cent mobility parking spaces just does not quite add up. I am glad to hear that the government has started the review which will be looking at that issue as well as some of the other issues that I have raised.
Amendments agreed to.
Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.
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