Northern Beaches and Mosman Councils were blindsided after Roads Minister John Graham rallied against the provision of free beach parking stickers for ratepayers only at a surprise press conference this week.
The Labor member held a press conference on Thursday, 23 January, to announce his push for reform of the councils’ beach parking sticker scheme, which currently provides free beach parking for ratepayers, but charges renters $250 for the permits.
The stickers provide four hours of free beachfront parking at Manly, Queenscliff and Shelly beaches as well as free, unlimited parking in most other waterfront carparks across the Northern Beaches.

They are highly prized and often sell on the ‘black market’ via Facebook under the guise of being a pen for sale.
“Some councils in the state are issuing these beach parking permits to owners for free, but then charging renters,” Mr Graham said at the press conference.
“The principle we like to apply is that regardless of whether you rent or own, you pay a similar amount for these or you have the same access to the scheme. That’s what we’re asking councils to consider.
It is not clear whether the minister’s preference was for ratepayers to also pay $250 for their permits, or for Council to provide them free to renters and ratepayers. His main argument was for it to be equal, whatever the price.
“A third of our state’s residents are renters, and they deserve equal access to the beach,” he said.
“A third of our state’s residents are renters, and they deserve equal access to the beach.”

Mayors of both Northern Beaches and Mosman say it was the first they had heard of either idea.
“We had absolutely no consultation from them at all. My office has actually asked for a meeting, an urgent meeting with the minister,” Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins told Manly Observer at Dee Why Beach car park the next day.
“It kind of makes you suspicious, why would you not actually pick up the phone and bother to ask for a meeting to at least throw some ideas around… I’m very disappointed in how this has been handled.”

Mosman Mayor Ann Marie Kimber had a similar view, digging into the Roads Minister straight after his press conference near Balmoral Beach on Thursday.
“I thought it was interesting. He said it was a consultation process, and yet he hasn’t consulted with us,” she said.
“I thought it was interesting. He said it was a consultation process, and yet he hasn’t consulted with us.”
“If he had just given me a call, he would have realised that $61 a year for renters is not going to change their life, and we are very aware that renters and homeowners in all of Australia, not only Mosman, are under pressure. I think a $61 refund for them of beach parking is the least of their concerns.”
The cost of beach parking stickers varies by suburb for non-ratepayers. Mosman only charges $61 annually for theirs while the Northern Beaches charges $250 given it has an extensive coastline.
Mosman stickers only work at around six areas, while the Northern Beaches have over 40 locations where the parking permit is valid.

Mr Graham said the State Government is not looking to cut local Councils’ revenue but rather establish equal access to the beach for all; claiming an example of similar beach equality success when they abolished Willara’s 15-minute beach parking restrictions which “favoured locals”.

The State Department is giving Councils until next Summer to come up with a plan which equally benefits ratepayers and renters. But with zero consultation, so far, and up-and-coming special variations, Northern Beaches Council is struggling to see what this result could look like.
“I just don’t understand how we can actually create some kind of equitable and fair parking arrangement. We have only a finite number of spaces. And we’ve always strongly encouraged a lot of our property owners to pass on their second parking stickers onto their tenants,” The Northern Beaches Mayor said.
The Mayor said the abolishment of paid stickers would have a huge impact on the Northern Beaches Council budget as it brings in “at least half a million dollars” a year which goes towards beach cleaning, rock pool cleaning and beach safety.
“I just kind of wonder where this is actually going to end because I don’t know if there’s going to be any extra money.
“Ideas could be, let’s cut from two parking stickers down to one, and then everybody has to pay even more for extra parking spaces or stickers. I know that $250 may sound like a lot, but that gives you a year of parking at the beaches. If you park at a beach all day, it costs $40 so that’s virtually six days that you’re paying for, and the rest of the year is free.”

The Council budget is already in jeopardy, to the extent that Council is voting on extreme cumulative rate rises of up to 40 per cent for residents at a Council meeting this Tuesday.
Mosman Council Mayor Ms Kimber questioned the concept benefits for the community, weighing in on how it would escalate issues the LGA is already experiencing.
“We are already over capacity for parking throughout Mosman, particularly at the beach,” she explained.
“I’m on a big campaign to push for people to try and take a bike, take an E-bike, take the bus, walk. It’s not a big area… So encouraging people to drive down to the beach is actually opposite to what we’re trying to do. So I suggested to the minister, call me next time if you’ve got an idea, then let’s talk about it first before a press release.”

We will provide any updates to readers as the issue progress before next Summer’s deadline.