Road Traffic (Issue of Free Tickets by Parking Ticket-Vending Machines) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. J.S. LEE (21:51): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am delighted to rise today to sponsor this private member's bill and to congratulate the hard working member for Unley who listens to his community. He did a great job in introducing the Road Traffic (Issue of Free Tickets By Parking Ticket-Vending Machines) Amendment Bill into the House of Assembly which was passed with the support of government.

Please allow me to outline the background of this bill. Over the last five years in particular, I was informed by the member for Unley that many streets of Unley are turning into car parks. Unley is recognised as a metropolitan area that has many shopping strips and, consequently, operators and traders rely heavily on car parking availability in order for those businesses to have a healthy flow of customers coming into the shops. However, anyone who has been to King William Road lately will see that there are a number of empty shops. This is not a good sign.

The parking issue must be resolved so that people are not deterred from parking their vehicles and using the facilities whether it be a cafe, fashion house, beauty salon or florist on King William Road. Recently, it has been reported that motorists found the system of free three-hour parking through obtaining a free ticket confusing. It is believed that the lack of certainty about the legality of this system may have, at least in part, caused this confusion.

My understanding is that around mid-2014, the City of Unley attempted to begin a 12 month trial of free ticket, time-limited parking on council-owned land. In this instance, it was the Boffa Street car park off King William Road. The trial would require motorists who use the car park to display a valid ticket on the dashboard, allowing them to park for up to 3 hours. The ticket was obtained through a parking ticket vending machine and provided free of charge to motorists.

After January 2015, the City of Unley Council and the council administration raised the issue with the member for Unley after learning that a motorist had disputed a fine that they received for not complying with the instructions at the car park and intended to take the matter to court. Subsequently, the motorist has decided not to take the matter further; however, the case demonstrated that the trial was possibly not legally defensible.

Upon receiving legal advice, the City of Unley determined that the car park could not be operated under the Private Parking Act because, despite the land being privately owned by the City of Unley, the car park is not used for parking of vehicles by persons frequenting the premises of the owner.

There are no council offices nearby, nor any venue used by the council, and the Australian Road Rules, together with the South Australian road rules do not permit a ticketing system where there is no payment. Advice from the RAA suggests that the main problem lies with the Australian Road Rules, part 2, rule 207—Parking where fees are payable, which states:

The driver must—

(a) pay the fee (if any) payable under the law of this jurisdiction; and

(b) obey any instructions on or with the sign, meter, ticket, or ticket-vending machine.

This implies a fee-free ticket is permitted. However, the RAA refers to the South Australian Road Traffic Act regulations 2014, where rule 22—Parking and parking ticket-vending machines or parking meters states:

For the purposes of rule 207(1) (Parking where fees are payable), if the word 'TICKET' is displayed on a permissive parking sign, the word is to be taken to indicate that a fee is payable by buying a ticket through the operating of a parking ticket-vending machine.

While the intention of rule 22 is to prevent people claiming that they did not realise they had to obtain a ticket, it unintentionally rules out the ability to provide time-limited parking, which is administered through obtaining a ticket from a ticket-vending machine without paying a fee. From what we understand, free-ticket parking was simply not a consideration at the time that the regulation in the South Australian road rules was drafted.

The City of Unley was attempting to provide car parking free of charge but also ensure that motorists abided by the sensible time limit and to avoid all day parking, which is of course a problem that residents in inner-city suburbs know all too well. What the member for Unley wants to advocate is to change the rules and make an amendment to the Road Traffic (Issue of Free Tickets by Parking Ticket-Vending Machines) Amendment Bill to make sure that the act provides the issue of free tickets by parking ticket-vending machines. That is a very simple amendment.

The minister in the other house has already approved it and it passed the House of Assembly. I encourage other members to consider this bill and make sure that it has smooth passage to ensure that the constituents living in Unley will not be affected and that it allows flexibility for local councils to administer their parking flexibilities as much as they can. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.