By Ethan Benedicto
Recent changes to the parking rules at Westfield Fountain Gate have sparked frustration from the shopping centre’s staff, with both Grevillea and Casuarina Ward candidates expressing their concerns.
A three-hour parking limit has been imposed at three key parking areas around the centre, which include sections of the red basement car park near Woolworths, the blue car park near Kmart and the orange car park near Coles.
This limit applies between 9am to 6pm, and according to the Westfield website will be patrolled by the City of Casey, whose officers will be implementing infringement notices if vehicles are over the limit.
Grevillea Ward council candidate, Stephen Matulec first brought the issue forward, addressing the changes with the city’s implementation of the rules as “the council basically acting as a corporation themselves”.
“They’re [administrators] just sitting in an office helping corporations while the community is not being listened to, how corporate does that sound?
“The thing is, ratepayers don’t need their money going towards this, people are struggling to pay their rates.
“People are telling me, ‘I’ve got $3000, $4000 in my rates bill’, and if I told them that it’s going towards helping corporations, what are they getting?”
Generally speaking, candidates from both Casuarina and Grevillea share a similar sentiment, and while things may not necessarily be black and white, there is a conclusion that these changes are “causing more frustration than benefit”, according to Casuarina Ward candidate Bassir Qadiri.
He added that it is understandable that both Westfield and Casey are looking to “manage parking turnover” but the limits might place “unnecessary stress on those who rely on longer-term parking, especially staff working near the affected zones”.
While the changes are still in its infancy, Qadiri also emphasised that it is “important to consider whether enforcing parking limits at Fountain Gate Shopping Centre is the best use of council resources”.
“It could be argued that resources might be better directed towards addressing broader community issues such as community safety, maintaining our parks, roads, and housing affordability.
“The enforcement of parking rules, particularly in a private shopping centre, may not align with the community’s most pressing needs,” Qadiri said.
Another candidate from the Casuarina, Kim Ross added that while more information is needed in order to balance the benefits and harm for employees, residents and shoppers from outside of Casey, one of the issues that the city faces is “traffic management”.
“If we’re serious about tackling the traffic problem in Casey, a wide range of strategies must be used; this includes encouraging other uses of transport, supporting increased public transport and better pedestrian and cycling access.
“There are many benefits to council partnerships, however, councils need to remain in control of partnerships; any entered into must be transparent, and valid reasons for the partnerships and how this arrangement benefits residents must be made available,” Ross said.
The City of Casey’s manager connected communities, Callum Pattie, cited the Road Safety Act 1986, specficially Section 90D as the source of the municipality’s and Westfield’s partnership.
“Section 90D of the… Act 1986 allows councils to enter into Parking Services Arrangements with private landowners, these agreements are common practice, particularly in shopping centres, to support driver and pedestrian safety.
“Casey has entered into such an agreement with Westfield to enforce three of the eleven car park areas within the Westfield Fountain Gate Shopping Centre.
“These car parks are in proximity to key services, including Woolworths, Kmart and Coles; Westfield receives a high volume of complaints regarding access to parking in these areas, and a three-hour parking time limit has been implemented in these car parks between 9am and 6pm, making it easier and more convenient for customers to find a park,” Pattie said.
Casuarina candidate, Suzanne Carmody said that she is “not a fan of putting additional costs onto people already doing it tough and trying to access shops and services”.
She also added that workers should be exempt to the new rules, where if a partnership like this were to be implemented across other shopping centres in the city which are in “dire need of [an] upgrade is something that could be beneficial to residents”.
Grevillea candidate, Stephen Capon sees the new changes as a slight hindrance to the local retailers’ ability to park, but could see improvements to the insufficient parking at shops due to the incentivised and limited shipping time.
However, he sees the partnership between Casey and Westfield is not an effective use of council resources, saying that “given already limited resources in keeping residential streets safe from illegal parking and Westfield (Scentre Group) making $175 million profit in 2023, why should ratepayers’ money be spent on enforcing a commercial issue?”.
“If Westfield are wanting to decrease customer parking times, they should provide a permit/exclusion system that does not impact retail workers’ parking hours,” he said.
Also from Casuarina, Jane Foreman is “strongly opposed” to the council’s partnership with Westfield, “as this feels like a money-grab by the council targeting our already financially strapped residents”.
“Rather than Westfield sorting out its parking issues, it enters a partnership with the council to impose fines on those who can least afford it,” she added.
All of the candidates above have stated that if they were to be elected, then some form of review or renegotiation of the agreement would be taken into account, considering the general consensus of an ineffective use of council resources.
Matulec said that “if Westfield is managing it and paying for it themselves, then it’s completely fine, but no money from any government body should be supporting a corporation like that”.
“Money needs to be spent very sparingly and in the right places, those are making sure rubbish collection is being done, roads and footpaths are being maintained, just basic local community things, supporting local sports clubs – that’s where the money needs to go.”
In more detail, the agreement with Casey and Westfield will see council’s Parking Compliance Officers issuing infringements for parking for a period longer than indicated and parking in disabled bays without a permit.
“Council retains funds collected from Parking Infringement Notices issues to reinvest back into community initiatives,” Pattie, from the council, said.
The first 30 days of the agreement will see warnings instead of actual infringements issued to those who parked for longer than the allotted time, which began on 9 September.
From 8 October onwards, proper parking infringement notices will be applied.
