Townsville City Council increases parking fines around the city

Drivers who overstayed their ticketed times or parked without paying last week would have been shocked to see fines jump by more than 50 per cent. See how much you’ll be paying from now on.

Townsville City Council has increased parking fines from $64 to $100Picture: Evan Morgan

Parking fines have increased by more than 50 per cent - seemingly overnight - as Townsville City Council quietly decided to raise the price from $64 to $100.

It comes a year after the council doubled the cost of parking in the city from $1 per hour to $2.

Drivers who overstayed their ticketed times or parked without paying last week were shocked to see the increase but council defended not communicating the change in pricing.

“Fine amount increases are not typically communicated directly to residents, as they only apply to drivers parking illegally,” a spokeswoman said.

As part of the 2025/2026 TCC budget, a review into parking penalty infringement notice amounts was conducted, a spokeswoman said.

“The review highlighted that Townsville had some of the lowest parking fines in the state when compared to similar sized Queensland councils,” she said.

“To bring our fines in line with industry standards, Council adopted an increase to parking fine amounts.”

The council did not answer questions about whether other fines had increased or how much extra revenue the move was expected to raise.

As a response to the state government’s increase in penalty unit from July 1 2025 – from $161.30 to $166.90 – all Queensland fines received the proportionate increase.

Prior to the increase Townsville’s cost for parking without paying was $16 less than other cities across the state at 0.40 of the penalty unit, behind the Sunshine Coast and Mackay which were both $80 or 0.50 of the penalty unit.

Originally published as Townsville City Council increases parking fines around the city