Page 130 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 12 February 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
When a Canberran pays for their parking, they are showing that they are trying to do the right thing. What they cannot always plan for is the unexpected: the meeting that runs late, the long queue at the shops, or a doctor’s appointment that goes a bit too long. It is for these moments that a commonsense approach to parking fines will make life a little better, which is why I think the government should investigate the introduction of grace periods for people who have paid for their parking—nothing so large as to distort people’s parking decisions but nothing so small that it can be thrown out by differences in people’s clocks.
Most of our community understand that they should follow the parking rules. People almost always pay for parking when they need to and usually return to their cars before their time is up. This motion seeks to provide understanding to the many members of the public who do the right thing but, for some reason or another, are running a few minutes late. Generally speaking, people who intend to abuse the system are likely to stay significantly longer than those who accidentally return to their car late. These people who do not pay for parking or well overstay their welcome should be the main targets of infringement notices.
Receiving a parking infringement for returning to your car five minutes late feels rough to anyone but particularly to those doing it tough. It is essentially a double whammy: you pay for parking and still end up with a parking fine. This can damage the weekly budget for some Canberrans and for others can be unaffordable, resulting in a lot of stress and anxiety or even going on a payment plan. This very simple change will, hopefully, make a difference.
I know that this place has considered other ideas to address the inequalities experienced in parking fines, namely the proposal to base fines on income. We have had that debate and we know the outcome. However, this idea will serve as a way to help address this issue—not solve it, just help.
This motion will, hopefully, also protect our parking inspectors from abuse. This abuse can be especially bad when parking inspectors issue infringements to people just after their parking has expired. People often become angry and abusive towards parking inspectors, even though they are just trying to do their job.
We are a city that understands the risks and impacts of climate change. We have developed an excellent public transport network for Canberra that we always encourage people to use. And people are using public transport now more than ever, with a seven per cent increase in passengers across the network since the opening of light rail.
This motion will not discourage people from making use of our integrated public transport network. Instead, it simply seeks to provide a grace period for those situations in which taking public transport is not an option. There are always circumstances in which driving to and from work, an appointment or the local shops is necessary, and parking in a ticketed area is required for some. A small grace period will not distort people’s transport choices. No-one is going to decide not to catch the bus when they might previously have done so because they plan to utilise a couple of minutes of extra parking.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video