Thursday, 2 May 2019

Yarraville parking meters

Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (17:58): My adjournment matter this evening is addressed to Minister Somyurek in his capacity as Minister for Local Government, but it also overflows into his other portfolio of small business. I have recently had a meeting with traders in Yarraville. The minister might recall that over recent years a matter of some considerable conjecture has been the placement of parking meters in Yarraville. This was a cause of some considerable consternation for locals, to the point that Maribyrnong council actually had to back down. The problem is that the actual parking meters are still there. There are no expectations that people will be paying for parking, but the parking meters are still there, which leads some to believe that they could be fined if indeed they park near the parking meters and do not put any money in them.

Mr Jennings interjected.

Mr FINN: It is not good, Minister. The traders are far from happy about this, because of course it does lead a number of people to go elsewhere.

Yarraville village—I do not know if either minister over there has been to Yarraville village—is an absolutely delightful place. You would want to go there to actually shop. It is not on the way to anywhere; you would have to make a firm decision to go there. A lot of people apparently are not doing that because they are concerned that they will get into strife with the parking meters.

So I am asking Minister Somyurek, in his capacity as local government minister but also in order to support local small businesses, to counsel Maribyrnong City Council to physically remove the parking meters as a matter of urgency. It is clear that that would help local traders enormously, and they have expressed to me in no uncertain terms that it is something they would like to see happen yesterday. I ask the minister to have a chat to Maribyrnong council and to emphasise to them the importance of getting on with it and removing the parking meters.