National institutions in the parliamentary triangle are wrestling with imposing paid parking on their staff and volunteers or risk having free parks swamped with public servants.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Along with Parliament House, the four independent national institutions that control their own car parks - the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, High Court and War Memorial - face this dilemma.
Management at the institutions had little to say on Wednesday as they considered whether to adopt ''government policy in the management of their car parks'' - as stated in the budget briefing papers - or take a chance on visitors being able to find a park if the car parks are kept free. Without paid parking, the institutions may be liable for fringe-benefits tax for their staff having free parking.
Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said the first priority was to protect the access of visitors and also volunteers and staff to the memorial. ''If the parking charges were to be applied as proposed, they would have a big financial impact on many of the staff of the memorial and certainly on our volunteers.
''The memorial could not function without its volunteers.''
Dr Nelson said a continuing free car park at the memorial would attract workers from surrounding areas.
''Human nature being what it is and observing the experience in other parts of Canberra, I would expect our car park to be filled early in the morning on most days, and not by visitors and staff to the memorial,'' he said.
''We've got to work through this and try to establish what the implications are and what options are available to the memorial in implementing the policy.''
A spokesman for the High Court said no notice had been given on the change and the court was now considering the implications of the budget decision.
