It's a bit rich. Govt focus on parking blitz instead of fixing sportsgrounds |
It's the ultimate insult.
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You get back from having your footy game cancelled because the ground was deemed "completely unsafe" only to find the ACT government's hit you with a parking fine as well.
I mean, you wanted to park legally, but unless you get to the ground at 6am the parks are all gone.
And you were already running late before you spent 20 minutes in vain trying to find a park and you didn't want little Johnny/Jenny to miss kick-off and have to sit on the bench again.
So you parked on the massive verge instead.
It seems a bit rich for the government to unleash a parking inspector blitz on local sportsgrounds, when its failing to keep those grounds in decent nick.
Soccer games at Kambah and Calwell have had to be cancelled because of the state of the pitches, while Aussie rules games had to be moved interstate for the same reason at Kippax.
There's already a shortage of sports facilities as it is, with local competitions bursting at the seams and having to turn away players.
In one positive for those players turned away, at least they don't risk getting a parking fine while they're not playing - unless they're foolish enough to get off the couch and go and watch instead.
Yeah sure, you shouldn't be parking illegally, I'm not condoning that, but to actually target mums and dads taking their kids to weekend sport seems a step too far.
Especially in the current cost-of-living crisis.
Petrol prices are still through the roof thanks the US's orange president. Interest rates are on the up and up, and won't be coming down anytime soon.
Now you've got to contend with a parking ticket that could be anything from $137 to $700.
Seven-hundred bucks! Now that's an expensive game of soccer/rugby/league/Aussie rules/netball/basketball/badminton/cricket/tennis.
Hopefully, the government's at least allocating those fines to fixing Canberra's dodgy sportsgrounds.
Maybe the Taxation Office could come on board and view them all as tax-deductible donations to sport. Run them all through the Australian Sports Foundation.
Given Canberra Raiders fans "donated" a whopping $15,000 at one single game last........