Paperless parking fine tickets scrapped by NSW government in major win for drivers

Sky News AU

01-07-2025

The New South Wales Government is hailing a return to paper-based parking fines as a victory for commonsense as one council confirmed it would comply with the order.
The unpopular system was introduced by the Coalition Government in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.
At the time, it was argued it would protect parking wardens, but critics and advocates argued the measure was unfair, with many Sydneysiders finding out they had been slugged with a parking fine long after they had committed the alleged offence.
The measure remained in place after COVID restrictions were rolled back in 2022.
Last year, the state government passed legislation to formally outlaw the practice with the measures coming into effect on Tuesday.
This was despite some councils saying the measures could expose parking wardens to violence, but state finance minister Courtney Houssos told state parliament last November the lack of deterrent was a reason to scrap the paperless system.
Under the return to paper based ticketing, wardens are required to attach a parking fine notification to the window of the vehicle, and a screenshot sent to Revenue NSW, with the driver allowed to see the ticket if it is requested by the driver.
Parking fines are also required to be sent out no later than seven days after the offence if a notification was not attached to the vehicle.
The state government said Revenue NSW worked with councils, the NRMA, the United Services Union and advocacy groups to ensure the technical capability to enable the reforms was done as soon as possible.
They also acknowledged councils would have had to have retrained officers and to purchase handheld printing devices and cameras, something the government says was a reason for the eight month grace period between the legislation being passed and it taking effect on Tuesday.
Research conducted by the Minns Government has revealed in the period from the 1 January to 30 June 2024, councils issued 435,363 ticketless fines.
From 1 January to 20 June 2025, councils issued only 371,565 ticketless fines, a drop of around 15 per cent.
The same research revealed that in the first half of this year, Canterbury Bankstown Council in Sydney's western suburbs, issued fewer than 6,000 ticketless fines in the first half of 2025, compared to 28,000 the year before.
Comparing 2024 to 2025, the total number of fines issued by Canterbury-Bankstown dropped from 34,343 to 21,367.
Sky News Australia contacted other councils across the Greater Sydney region for comment on whether they had begun to drop ticketless parking fines and whether they would comply with the change in legislation.
This followed state government research that showed councils on the north shore and Northern beaches were using parking fines to top up their coffers following budget blow outs on major infrastructure projects.
A spokesperson for Hornsby Shire Council, which collected over $2,000,000 in fines said they would get back.
The same was also true of North Sydney council, which collected under $8.7 million in parking fines under the ticketless system.
Bathurst Council in the state's Central West confirmed that they would be complying in full with the legislation, and in the past two months, had issued 17 fines.
The council which collected the most parking fines was the City of Sydney Council, controlled by Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
She has tussled with the state government in the past, most notably on attempts by the Minns Government plans to revive Sydney's ailing nightlife and to use part of Moore Park Golf Course for Housing.
A City of Sydney spokeswoman confirmed the council would begin to issue 'paper fines' from today, 'in line with NSW government regulations'.
Ms Moore had previously refused to comply, with one parking machine, near Sydney Harbour collecting over $200,000 in the past financial year, the highest in Sydney.
From today, council rangers will be required to leave an on-the-spot notification for anyone fined – except in very limited circumstances.
Ms Houssos said the move marked the end to the paperless ticketing system which formally ended on Tuesday.
'Today marks the end of the previous government's unfair ticketless parking fine system,' she said.
'People shouldn't be caught by a surprise parking ticket weeks after the fact. These commonsense changes bring fairness and transparency back to the system.'
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury also welcomed the fact ticketless parking fines are finally banned.
'People deserve to know when and why they're being fined — and to have a fair chance to challenge it if needed,' he said.