South Australia Plans to Require Inspectors to Issue Parking Fines in Person
South Australia plans to require council inspectors to issue parking fines in person, ending a system that allows councils to mail penalties after camera cars scan parked vehicles. The government says inspectors could still use AI to identify possible offences, but must issue tickets at the scene.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government plans to introduce legislation requiring council inspectors to physically issue parking fines, ending ticketless penalties mailed after camera cars pass.
The proposal would change how councils across the state can enforce parking rules. Inspectors would have to leave a ticket on the vehicle or hand it to the driver.
AI could still help identify possible offences, Malinauskas said, but a council inspector would need to issue the fine at the time.
“If they've got someone in the car and someone gets out of the car, looks at the circumstances … that's OK,” he said.
The proposed reform follows concerns over the City of Adelaide's Park Safe program, which uses a camera-equipped car to scan for illegally parked vehicles and take photographs.
The council has said trained officers review the images to verify whether an offence occurred. A recent council report found that an average of 25 per cent of contested fines were withdrawn after drivers requested reviews by parking information officers so far this year.
Tour bus operator Dallas Coull told the government’s press conference he had received no fines before Park Safe began operating, but had since received “dozens and dozens.”
“There's actually a hotel in the CBD that don't pick up [at] anymore because we get kept getting fines,” he said.
Shopper Fiona Garwood welcomed the proposed change, saying she would “rather have things done by a person.” Another shopper, Levi Adams, said he was concerned about AI being used in many parts of life.
“I'm concerned about AI in every aspect of life, so I really don't need it to be in parking fines as well. The less, the better, in my opinion,” said Adams, who is 23.
The Local Government Association of South Australia said it had not been consulted on the planned changes. Its president, Heather Holmes-Ross, called that “unusual” and questioned why parking enforcement was being treated differently from other systems using similar technology.
“The technology we're talking about is the same technology that's used by red light cameras, phone detection — it's all the same software,” Holmes-Ross said.
The state government said there was an “important distinction” between parking enforcement and road safety laws. “Parking fines are mostly issued to stationary cars whereas that is clearly not the case for a speeding car,” a spokesperson said.
The government said it would consult stakeholders, including the Local Government Association. Holmes-Ross said councils were trialing the technology to improve efficiency while retaining human oversight.
