Paid parking examined at Russell

By Antony Underwood

No timetable has been set for the introduction of pay parking into public car parks around Russell Offices and Campbell Park Offices, the major Defence office complexes in the ACT.

But any move to introduce pay parking could significantly disadvantage thousands of Defence employees.
And the introduction of pay parking, which would provide an enormous boost to ACT Government coffers, would mean a commensurate drain on the take-home pay of (say) 4000 non-SES employees who, strictly speaking, have no entitlement to free parking.

A parking tariff of $4 per car per day (as has been levied in open-air parking nearer to Civic) would raise roughly $3.8 million per annum and cost every non-SES Defence motorist nearly $1000 per year.

The threat to non-SES Defence employees’ take home pay appears, from the July 14 Defence Employees Certified Agreement workshops - consolidated report, to have escaped the attention of Staff Consultation Workshops focussing on the next DECA due to come into force next year.

But it seems likely that major unions may take up the issue as part of their bargaining position in negotiations with senior Defence officers to strike the new agreement.

In Circular Memorandum No. 13/2003 distributed on July 24, the Head of National Operations Division, Mr Ken Moore, outlines entitlements and considerations in the ACT Defence parking issue.

He says the priorities (in order) are:


• Senior Executive Service (SES) and Star ranked Service3 Officer Equivalents as part of their Workplace Agreements;
• Sufficient disabled parking to meet legislated Government requirements;
• Commonwealth vehicles not home garaged that require long term parking;
• Diplomatic parking; and
• Visitors parking including Commonwealth B Class, general visitors and courier/delivery loading zone parking.
  
  Mr Moore said Defence is ‘under no obligation to provide parking spaces for its employees’; that ‘the Department encourages the maximum use of public transport’ and that ‘both the major Defence areas at Russell and Campbell Park are well serviced by public transport’.
  
  He said Defence has no responsibility to provide secure parking for employee vehicles, motorbikes or bicycles but currently pays to have the parking areas around Russell and Campbell Park patrolled between the hours of 0600 and 1800 to provide some measure of protection for employees and their vehicles.
  
  In respect of Russell, Mr Moore said the major parking areas in the precinct are public parking areas and as such are not for the exclusive use of Defence employees.
  
  “These parking areas are controlled by the ACT Government’s Department of Urban Services and the National Capital Authority,” he said, “Defence has an input into the management of these parking areas, however, does not have control over them.
  
  “Any variations to the existing car parking arrangements surrounding Defence owned or leased properties may require a review of the existing parking policies.
  
  “For example, it is known that it is ACT Government policy to gradually introduce the concept of pay parking in many areas of the ACT, and this may require a variation to existing arrangements.”
  
  The full text of the Commonwealth Restricted Parking Policy for the Department of Defence Canberra Region may be viewed at: http://defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/home/documents/data/defpubs/dcm03/CM13_03.pdf
  

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