Perspective with Jack Tame: I don't have an issue with higher parking fines

If you were in a bit of a rush yesterday morning, I dunno - perhaps somehow you were caught out by daylight saving and you scrambling to get to an appointment - and you forgot to put money in the meter before rushing off, you'd have been fined $40.

If you did it today, exactly the same offence, you'd be fined $70. Almost double. Parking fines are up for the first time in twenty years and errant parkers will be facing stricter penalties across the board. 

I don't have an issue with the higher fines. If you don't want to be fined, pay for your parking. It's pretty simple. 

But despite supporting higher fines, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown isn't happy with the regime. He takes issue with the fact that fines are still set by central Government under the Land Transport Act, rather than local councils.

I think he's got a good point. It seems absurd to me that for all the talk about localism, councils are still relying on an edict from Wellington to set their parking fines. If a council can't be relied on to set appropriate parking fines, how on Earth can expect it to manage a balance sheet, consenting or complex infrastructure planning? 

And Wayne Brown's quite right - there's no reason that fines in congested city centres should be the same as parking fines on the main street of a regional town. 

Central government says it wants local councils to be focused on the basics. Setting the parking fines within its own jurisdiction qualifies as a basic, for me. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So if you're in a bit of a rush yesterday
and I don't know, maybe somehow you got caught out
by daylight saving or you were scrambling to get to
an appointment and you forgot to put money in the
meter before rushing off, you would have been fined for
your errand parking forty dollars, right, forty bucks. But if
you did the same thing today, exactly the same thing,

(00:21):
parked in the wrong place, didn't put money in the meter,
didn't use the app exactly the same offense, you would
be fined seventy dollars. Almost double. Parking fines are up
for the first time in twenty years, and errant parkers
will be out parkers will be facing stricter penalties right
across the board. I think the single highest parking fine

(00:44):
as it stands is for parking in a disabled spot
seven hundred and fifty bucks. Now, look, I don't have
an issue with the higher fines. If you don't want
to be fined, pay for your parking. It's pretty simple
as far as I'm concerned. But despite supporting higher fines,
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown isn't happy with the new regime.

(01:05):
He takes as you with the fact that finds are
still set by central government under the Land Transport Act
rather than by local councils. And honestly, I think he's
got a really good point. I mean, it might seem
like a trivial subject, right, Parking finds might seem like
a relatively trivial focus for a government or council. It

(01:25):
just seems absurd to me that, for all the talk
about localism, councils are still relying on an edict from
Wellington to set their parking fines. I mean, if a
council can't be relied or relied on to set appropriate
parking finds for its jurisdiction, how on earth can we

(01:47):
expect it to manage a balance sheet? Can we expect
it to manage consenting or complex infrastructure planning? And Wayne
Brown's quite right, there is no reason that finds congested
big city centers should be the same as parking finds
on the main street of a regional town. That just
makes no sense. Central government says it wants local councils

(02:11):
to be focused on the basics. Surely setting parking finds
within its own jurisdiction qualifies as a basic.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
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