The increasing use of ticketless parking fines in NSW has led to a 49 per cent increase in the infringement notices.
The major spike led NSW Minister For Finance Courtney Houssos to slam councils for the ticketless system that she said on Wednesday had “failed to meet community expectations”.
The ticketless parking fine system means drivers are not immediately notified when the parking infringement is identified.
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Houssos said the delayed receipt of parking fines under the new system made it hard for drivers to collect evidence for disputed fines.
She also said that because “a driver could receive multiple infringements for parking in the same spot before receiving a notification” the impact of the fine as a deterrent is also reduced.
Some councils have responded positively to calls to revert to paper parking tickets following backlash, but others have said they will wait to be forced by law.
There were 551,441 ticketless fines issued in NSW in the 2022/23 financial year, but that increased by 49 per cent to 822,310 ticketless fines issued in the last financial year.
Over half a million traditional parking fines were also issued in the 23/24 financial year, representing a 22 per cent reduction from 716,148 traditional fines issued during the financial year before.
That equates to an additional $31,489,762 worth of parking fines, bringing the total value of the infringement notices issued in the last financial year to $253,606,381.
“The community feedback has been overwhelming in favour of councils providing drivers with on-the-spot notifications of parking fines,” Houssos said.
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Houssos has been speaking with councils since March to understand the new parking fine system and to raise her concerns.
“I have spoken to mayors and councils from across the state, and many agree there is a fundamental issue with a failure to notify drivers at the time of the fine,” she said.
Now, 30 councils across NSW have indicated to Revenue NSW or stated publicly they have already, or plan to, change their operations to leave an instant, on-the-spot notification to drivers, Houssos said.
But a number of councils have said they were not willing to revert to the paper tickets unless compelled by changes to legislation.
“I’m grateful to the councils that have recognised the significant issues with the ticketless parking system introduced by the previous Liberal-National government,” Houssos said.
“Councils should come to the table and deliver a solution which embraces transparency and fairness.
“If councils aren’t willing to provide a common-sense fix, the NSW Government will step in and use our policy levers to ensure the ticketless parking fine system meets community expectations.”
The NSW government is now exploring the next steps to ensure consistency, fairness and transparency for drivers, as consultation on the issue draws to a close.