Queensland’s worst suburbs for parking fines revealed

Queensland councils are raking tens of millions of dollars in parking fines every year, with the state’s motorists proving a cash cow for local government.

QUEENSLAND councils are raking tens of millions of dollars in parking fine revenue every year, with the state’s motorists proving a cash cow for local government.

A Sunday Mail investigation has uncovered that Queensland councils doled out at least $54.25 million in parking fines in 2018 — a staggering $103 a minute.

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Gold Coast, Brisbane and Noosa councils were among the worst when it came to fines per capita, with Brisbane City Council alone issuing $28.06 million in fines.

The total number of parking fines across the state reached nearly 571,269 in 2018 — more than the 176,000 speeding tickets written up by police in 2017/18 and the 146,377 fines issued from fixed speeding cameras in 2017.

It means more than one in 10 Queenslanders were given a fine in 2018, despite an overall drop in fines from 2017.

In Brisbane, the CBD, South Brisbane, Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill and Woolloongabba were the suburbs hit with the most infringement notices.

On the Gold Coast, where motorists were slugged $14,694,721 in 2018, Surfers Paradise, Southport, Burleigh Heads, Broadbeach and Coolangatta topped the list.

Several regional councils have also issued fines to their residents over the past twelve months, including Fraser Coast, Gympie, Southern Downs and Western Downs councils.

In Cairns, drivers were slugged just over $2.3 million after they increased the value of their fines by 15 per cent.

Gladstone, Rockhampton and Whitsunday councils all failed to provide their parking fine statistics.

The Local Government Association of Queensland has defended the use of parking fines, insisting that regulated parking is in the community’s interest.

LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam said the fine haul was insignificant when compared to the $12 billion spent by Queensland councils every year.

“Whilst I understand the community angst and ire, the rules are there to ensure everyone gets a good crack at parking and we don’t disadvantage the traders in the area,” he said.

RACQ’s head of public policy Rebecca Michael said it was important that council’s ensured their parking areas were adequately signed and line marked to prevent ambiguity.

She said the RACQ would support parking fines revenue being used to improve public transport to get more people off the road.

“Parking restrictions are put in place to ensure all road users and community members can safely park and access the roads and areas they need to,” she said.

Moreton Bay Regional Council managed to achieve one of the lowest fine hauls per capita, only dishing out $258,000 worth of fines last year.

Mayor Allan Sutherland put this down to the council’s flexible approach to enforcing regulated parking.

“I understand that times are tough and other councils could be using parking fines as a revenue raising exercise, but we don’t want to charge people $100 if they overstay 10 minutes,” he said.

“We want residents and visitors alike to get out and enjoy our local attractions.

“Not having to worry about parking fines makes that experience all the more pleasant.”

Last year, Brisbane motorists were stung with 242,096 fines, but this was down about 14 per cent from the previous year.

The council’s community services chairman Cr Peter Matic said they took a tough stance on illegal parking because it could create “safety risks”.

However Labor councillor Kara Cook took a swipe at the number of fines, describing it as an indictment of the “skewed priorities of the administration”.

“Graham Quirk and the LNP are addicted to the low-hanging fruit of parking fines,” she said.

“Ordinary Brisbane residents are being fined in the middle of the night for even the slightest infringement when surely a warning would suffice.”