Controversy over paid parking at Tea Tree Plaza – centre’s owner says retail staff are catered for

After a row broke out about how much staff will pay if parking fees are introduced at Tea Tree Plaza, owners now say the Premier is wrong again about another vital fact.

The Premier has again been accused of “misrepresenting facts” about there not being enough subsidised carparks for retail workers at Tea Tree Plaza Shopping Centre.

In a late night statement to The Advertiser, Scentre Group, the owners and operators of Westfield, said it was disappointed in the state government.

“Approximately 900 car spaces will be reserved for retail workers (at Tea Tree Plaza), many multiples of what the Premier has suggested and with sufficient capacity for all workers,” a Scentre Group spokesperson said.

“The Premier’s statements regarding retail staff parking areas hitting full capacity early, leaving majority of retail workers to face the ‘full cost’, are also incorrect.

“At Westfield West Lakes, where 420 car spaces are reserved for retail workers at a maximum of $3 per day, the take up by retail workers rarely exceeds 75 per cent of the spaces we make available.”

The state government was initially accused of “spreading misinformation” about the cost to Westfield Tea Tree Plaza staff if paid parking were to be introduced at the shopping centre.

A report prepared by Scentre Group, said “safe, secure and convenient parking for retail staff … will be provided at a staff rate of $3 per day”.

“Not $35 per day, as the government and SDA have claimed,” it said.

“We provide parking for retail staff as their employers do not provide or subsidise their parking, and we need to balance this with the demands for customer parking.”

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

SA Liberal leader David Speirs. Picture: POOL via NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

On Sunday, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the subsidised parking referred to by Scentre Group would only apply to a limited number of spaces.

“What Westfield have been doing now for decades, and I certainly recall this from my time representing retail workers … is supplying some car parks for workers but only a very small, exclusive number,” he said.

“So the majority of car parks, workers would be facing the full cost and that’s why we’re moving to act here.

“But it’s more than just the staff, what we’re seeking to do is protect residents in the Tea Tree Gully area and in the northeastern suburbs from yet another cost being imposed on them at a time when the cost of living is going up.”

Opposition leader David Speirs said the group had been forced to publicly correct the record.

“They’re sick of the Malinauskas Labor government … spreading misinformation about paid parking, whipping things up into a frenzy when that’s not the case,” he said.

The government has introduced legislation that would block large shopping centres from introducing paid parking schemes without council approval.

The Opposition will also put forward an amendment to the carparking legislation, which would guarantee healthcare workers receive free parking if the Bill passes.

“We’ve got a government that’s not being serious when it comes to equity between healthcare workers that they employ and retail workers who are employed by the private sector,” Mr Speirs said.

The Greens have also flagged they would move an amendment that would prevent public hospitals from charging workers carparking fees.

Mr Malinauskas said it was important to get the balance right.

“What we don’t want is a situation where we solve one problem for staff and end up having no car parks available for the family members of patients inside the hospital,” he said.

He said the government had pledged to introduce the bill in the lead-up to the election and was committed to keeping its promise.