Kathryn Bermingham: The Premier should show the same commitment to healthcare workers

There was a glaring problem with the Premier’s declaration of victory over Tea Tree Plaza parking meters. But he doesn’t seem to get it, writes Kathryn Bermingham.

The announcement this week that the state government would move to ban paid parking at Westfield Tea Tree Plaza was the kind of hypocrisy we loathe from politicians.

In a blatant case of putting politics above common sense, Peter Malinauskas declared legislation would be introduced to restrict large shopping centres from charging customers and staff for parking.

But the Premier had no such sympathy for the plight of healthcare workers, who this month had their access to free parking at hospitals cancelled and fees reinstated.

A glaring double standard. And what’s worse, Mr Malinauskas didn’t seem to see it.

In one fell swoop, he managed to pick a fight with health workers and send a message to big business that the government is overbearing and quick to interfere.

The optics were not good. At a time when the health system is in crisis and the government has billions of dollars of election commitments to implement, the cost of shopping centre parking hardly seems the kind of issue that should trouble Mr Malinauskas.

Yet there he was on Monday morning, standing in a carpark within sight of the overrun Modbury Hospital, triumphantly announcing Westfield had been defeated, the war had been won. It seemed a throwback to his days as head of the shoppies union.

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture NCA NewsWire/Emma Brasier

If that image of Mr Malinauskas flanked by a small army of MPs, councillors and union representatives seemed a bit like overkill, spare a thought for the hoards of health workers who have recently been told the government could no longer afford to subsidise their parking.

The difference, the Premier conveniently explained, was that revenue from hospital parking lands in the government’s pocket, not big business.

It shouldn’t matter. It makes no difference to the hip pockets of health workers and suggests it is somehow their responsibility to help fund the ailing system.

At its core, this was a policy designed to shore up votes in the must-win seats of the northeastern suburbs when Labor was in opposition and had its sights on the March state election.

Mr Malinauskas took the side of the little guy in a battle against a global retail giant in Westfield.

Plans to start charging for parking were never going to be popular, but the case put forward by Westfield was not unreasonable. Their data shows more than a third of carpark spaces are not being used by customers. Commuters and workers at other facilities are using the carpark because others in the area are already charging fees or are too small.

Despite government claims workers would be slugged up to $35 a day, Westfield said the proposed daily parking fee for retail staff will be “an amount similar to the cost of public transport”.

As for the customers, the paid model that has been in place for several years at Westfield West Lakes offers the first three hours of parking for free.

With the Health Services Union now vowing to take action in the employment tribunal over the government’s refusal to scrap increased parking fees for hospital staff, Mr Malinauskas must take action to avoid costly damage to his reputation among health workers.

Now that he has interfered in private business to legislatively force free parking at the shops, he has to act on the anger of workers or face howls that he is a hypocrite.