City of Sydney councillor proposes parking ‘tax’ plan for SUVs

Aussies could end up paying $24 per hour for parking if a proposal for a “Paris-style” fee system goes ahead.

A plan to triple parking fees on the “most dangerous, polluting” SUVs, mirroring an initiative in Paris, could see some Aussie motorists slugged $24 an hour.

City of Sydney councillor Matthew Thompson is set to put forward the proposal targeting large vehicles in the inner city, saying the “killers” were “wiping out” climate gains.

SUVs accounted for almost 57 per cent of new car sales in 2024, a mark that was a slight increase from the year before. There has also been a rise of controversial US pick-up trucks on Aussie roads in recent times.

Greens councillor Mr Thompson told followers on social media that the notice of motion he plans to table on Monday night aimed to “disincentivise” SUVs in the inner city.

“Get in, loser. We’re gonna tax SUVs,” he said, in a nod to teen comedy Mean Girls.

Australian Dodge Ram 1500 owners say parking is not an issue and poor parking is not limited to large American pickup trucks. Picture: Facebook

The Toyota RAV4 is one of Australia’s best-selling cars.

The first-term councillor said his proposal followed a tripling of parking fees for SUVs in the French capital last year, which he said was introduced to “huge success and popularity”.

Parisians voted in a February 2024 referendum to triple fees, with 54.6 per cent in favour. Only 5.7 per cent of Paris’ registered voters took part.

There was also a move in November, from the mayor of Paris, to ban cars weighing 1.7 tonnes or more from the city’s streets altogether.

Paris has already gone down this route. Picture: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP

In Sydney, raising hourly parking fees three-fold would see costs of $8.20 per hour being hiked to $24.60.

Mr Thompson explained his plan in a video on Instagram: “SUVs are big. Big problems, big polluters, big killers.”

“Killers as in slay?” asks Greens colleague and Inner West councillor Olivia Barlow.

“No, killers as in like a child is eight times more likely to die if hit by one,” he replies.

Ms Barlow says: “That’s so not slay.”

City of Sydney councillor Matthew Thompson (right).

With Inner West councillor Olivia Barlow (left). Pictures: Instagram

Mr Thompson’s notice of motion calls on council executives to investigate the possibility of a “Paris-style” parking fee system being introduced in Sydney.

“SUVs are killers – they are far more dangerous than normal passenger cars and pose increased risks to pedestrians, cyclists and other road-users, with children eight times more likely to die when hit by a SUV,” it reads.

It goes on to state “if SUVs were a country, they would be the world’s fifth largest emitter of CO2” and that their rising popularity was “wiping out the climate gains from the switch to electric vehicles”.

The motion also asks for carve outs so not to impact groups like people with disabilities, tradespeople and others with specific mobility or business requirements.

According to RACV, the top three best-selling cars in Australia last year were all SUVs – the Ford Ranger, Toyota RAV4 and Toyota HiLux.