The Australian National University may be a model for the introduction of pay parking at Parliament House.
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Officials at Parliament are wrestling with how to bring about a scheme that is fair to the thousands of visitors and occupants, some of whom work irregular hours in sitting periods.
''We have many hard-working people, they work long hours, we have unusual hours during sitting periods - we want to take all of that into account,'' said Carol Mills, who runs the Department of Parliamentary Services.
''I think we're a little bit comparable to the Australian National University campus, where similarly they have people who work sessional for various jobs, they have people who have administrative jobs and are there every day of the year and they have a large number of visitors.''
The ANU has a mix of prepaid parking for staff and students and ''pay and display'' for visitors.
Pay parking will be introduced for the visitors' car park under the Parliament House forecourt and officials are looking at whether the scheme should be adopted for all staff car parks.
The presiding officers, former speaker Anna Burke and Senate president John Hogg, had little choice for the visitors' car park after the budget decision to introduce pay parking in the Parliamentary Triangle and national lands in central Canberra.
If Parliament House and the four independent institutions that run their own car parks - the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, High Court and Australian War Memorial - do not impose pay parking or a voucher system, they risk having free car parks swamped by public servants.
The visitors' car park at Parliament House is currently free, with a three-hour parking limit.
Ms Mills said the options for the visitors' car park included a free period controlled by boom gates, similar to shopping malls, where the gates are open at night.
''We're very keen to make sure we preserve our spaces for visitors,'' she said. ''We couldn't afford to become the free parking zone for workers because that's actually contrary to the aim of the policy.
''We will take into account models that don't discourage people.''
Ms Mills said any pay parking scheme for occupants of Parliament House had to take into account their long and irregular hours.
''We want to get the balance right between equity and consistency … that it's fair for everybody, not just the people who park here, but it's fair when compared to people across Canberra more broadly,'' she said.
''If there is something genuinely different here for people, we'll take that into account, but we're starting also from an assumption that what is here should be guided by arrangements that happen for workers elsewhere in Canberra.''
The ANU has 5900 car parking spaces of different types on the Acton campus and:
■ Staff and students can buy a permit to park in designated areas for the duration of their enrolment or employment.
■ They can also buy a book of one-day scratchie parking permits.
■ They can buy a parking station permit that entitles them to park in their own reserved bay.
■ Students staying in the halls and colleges can apply for a permit to park at their place of residence.
■ ''Pay and display'' voucher car parks are on the campus for part-time staff, student and visitor use.
■ Areas on campus are specifically set aside for motorcycles, no permit required.