The South Australian government will introduce new legislation to block a proposal by Westfield to charge customers for parking at an Adelaide shopping centre.
The supermarket giant lodged a planning application last year to install boom gates and pay stations in its Tea Tree Plaza carpark, which would lead to shoppers and workers being charged up to $35 per day for parking there.
The centre currently has five-hour free parking, and Premier Peter Malinauskas said it would be inappropriate for Westfield to start charging now, given the increasing cost of living pressures Australians are facing.
"I think it's wrong that a company of Westfield's stature and profitability would be seeking to install boom gates right at the time that people can least afford it," he said.
Malinauskas today promised to introduce legislation allowing his government to block the move.
Under the bill, which will apply to any shopping centre in the state over 34,000 square metres, operators could still apply to charge for parking but would need to first go through a community consultation process, arranged through local councils.
"The local council consults with the local community before contemplating the approval of boom gates being installed," Malinauskas said.
He expects the legislation would be able to be applied retrospectively, allowing it to impact shopping centre operators who have been charging car parking fees for years.
Despite the plan to block paid parking at South Australia's major shopping centres, the government says it won't do the same at hospitals, meaning healthcare workers and patients will still be hit with parking fees.
The premier said the difference in approaches is due to where the profits of each system go.
"With income that is generated through hospital parking, that goes to the health system," he said.
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"Income that would be generated from paid parking at Tea Tree Plaza Westfield goes to overseas shareholders."
Westfield says over a third of the parks at the shopping centre are taken up by people who aren't customers.
The new bill will be introduced next week.
