09-07-2025
Aussie council responds after locals left stunned by $1,000 fines for parking on the grass
An Aussie council is standing firm on its decision to hand down "outrageous" $1,010 fines for two locals who parked on a nature strip, saying the tough penalties are in place to "discourage the behaviour".
Earlier this month, two local men complained they had received an unfair penalty for parking on a median strip by the Clarence City Council, in Tasmania's southeast. One father said he'd simply stopped at the spot to pick up his kids from school, and having a trailer attached to his car, was met with few alternate options. He told local publication Pulse that he initially thought the incredible penalty "was a typo".
Another said he'd parked there to walk his dogs, and was so surprised by the extreme fee he even called to council to check its legitimacy. "They said, no, it's not a joke. That's what it is," Andrew said.
According to Council CEO Ian Nelson, his LGA "is not unique in setting fines", and the amounts serve a purpose. "This fine, for parking illegally on a nature strip or council land, is achieving an appropriate outcome," he told Yahoo News Australia.
"The infringement was issued under council's Public Places By-law which was adopted in 2018. In this case, the offence relates to Public Places Bylaw 2018, section 30(1) and carries a penalty of five units. These rules were formally put in place by Council and we're required to apply them consistently — we can't simply change or ignore them."
Across Tasmania, councils tend to issue parking fines that range between 0.2 and 0.6 penalty units, which equates to approximately $40 to $120 at the current state-set rate of $202 per unit.
For example, Devonport City Council — in the state's north — applies a 0.55-unit fine, around $111, for most parking breaches, with discounts available for early payment.
Launceston's fines for standard infringements typically start at $41 and increase in stages up to about $102.50 if unpaid after 28 days. Burnie and Glenorchy councils follow similar patterns, applying relatively low unit counts in line with state norms.
By contrast, Clarence City Council's use of five penalty units — resulting in a $1,010 fine for parking on public land — stands out. While councils decide how many units to apply to offences under their own by-laws, the dollar value per unit is determined by the Tasmanian Government and indexed annually.
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As Aussies grapple with the rising cost of living, parking fines have been a sore point across the nation, with residents also dobbing neighbours in.
In May in Sydney, the Inner West Council said it had received an incredible 4,393 recent complaints regarding people parking across nature strips and driveways. In response, it said it will now order tow trucks to remove vehicles obstructing driveways, doubling fines for offending drivers from $320 to $660.
Last year, a woman who parked on the grass outside her home "because there weren't any spots left on the road" was appalled to discover she'd been fined twice, totalling $640. The NSW motorist said she "wasn't aware" it was an offence to park on the grass.
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