‘A disgrace’: PR queen Roxy Jacenko sparks debate after complaining about staff member’s $116 parking fine

Sydney PR guru Roxy Jacenko has been roasted for complaining about a parking ticket an employee received near her Paddington office.

Sydney public relations guru Roxy Jacenko has been mocked as out-of-touch for complaining about a parking ticket an employee received near her Paddington office.

Ms Jacenko shared a photo of the $116 fine – which she said she would be paying for her staffer – with her 256,000 followers on Instagram on Tuesday.

“Twenty minutes over? To have a job and keep the economy alive?!” the employee wrote in a text message to her boss. “It’s a pandemic and the train isn’t safe!!! This is mayhem.”

Ms Jacenko said it was “just a disgrace”.

“I’ve written to City of Sydney about the parking situation in Paddington – without even a reply some two months ago,” she wrote.

“Weekly my team who just try and come to work by means as directed by the government (driving not using public transport due to COVID-19) get parking fines – today’s fines a mere 20 minutes over?”

Ms Jacenko, who in July announced her semi-retirement from the PR industry due to loss of clients as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, said it was “hard enough to keep business running let alone having to run out every hour on the hour”.

She said the ticketing was being “targeted” at just two streets by her Sweaty Betty PR office.

“Shame one has to stoop to using social media in order to get an answer as a land tax paying building owner in their area,” she said.

“As with others, I’ll be covering this for my team, as why should they be penalised for getting up and going to work. Something’s got to change.”

She tagged the City of Sydney and Lord Mayor Clover Moore in the post.

Some users on Instagram were unsympathetic.

“Welcome to the real world,” one person said.

Another wrote, “I’m not supporting the fines, but they are there for all. Suggest like a lot of us do and park further away and walk. Cheaper in the long run. You will never beat the parking police.”

One said, “This could not scream white privilege more if it tried. This is an issue to MANY Australians. You chose to have your businesses there!! You can still get public transport!? Park further away and walk?! Like MANY of us. Sorry but come on. Snap out of your bubble.”

Another woman said she liked following Ms Jacenko but “this is a really hard one for me”.

“Some people would do anything to just be able to work,” she wrote.

“My husband is critically ill in the hospital and we can’t even visit because they’re locked down. Don’t get me wrong I don’t begrudge anything you have. It just seems trivial is all.”

But others shared her outrage. “Fining people during these unprecedented times is unjust,” one person argued.

Another said she agreed with Ms Jacenko “100 per cent”. “What a joke!” she wrote.

“I feel your pain. We are the ones actually presenting to work everyday, paying tolls, petrol, parking and yet people are being paid for nothing – or to work from home. It’s an absolute disgrace that the people doing the right thing – in every single way, are being penalised.”