Minns Labor Government parking reforms deliver big shift away from ticketless fines
The Minns Labor Government’s commonsense reforms to parking fines are delivering for the people of NSW with a reduction in ticketless fines by as much 99% in some council areas.
The former Liberal-National Government removed immediate notification of parking fines in 2020, despite community advocates warning it was unfair and lacked transparency.
This meant that drivers sometimes only found out they received a fine weeks after the fact, limiting their ability to gather evidence to challenge the fine, and resulting in fines not changing behaviour.
The reforms introduced by the Minns Labor Government mean that parking officers must once again leave a physical on-the-spot notification for parking fines, except in limited circumstances (for example, where the car is moving, or where it is not safe for the ranger to attach a notification).
In the first three months following the Minns Government’s reforms coming into effect (1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025), councils across NSW issued just over 319,000 parking fines, of which only 5% were ticketless.
This represents a decline of 93% in the number of ticketless fines compared to the corresponding period July to September 2024.
Some of Sydney’s largest councils have seen the biggest reductions in their use of ticketless fines, including:
| Council | Ticketless fines 1 Jul-30 Sep 2024 | Physical tickets issued 1 Jul-30 Sep 2024 | Ticketless fines 1 Jul-30 Sep 2025 | Physical tickets issued 1 Jul-30 Sep 2025 | % decrease in ticketless fines issued |
| City of Sydney | 72,284 | 115 | 1,102 | 58,206 | 98% |
| North Sydney Council | 15,518 | 22 | 277 | 13,145 | 98% |
| Canterbury Bankstown Council | 13,418 | 5,409 | 403 | 11,396 | 97% |
| Northern Beaches Council | 12,654 | 21 | 119 | 11,658 | 99% |
| City of Newcastle | 10,256 | 32 | 663 | 7,817 | 94% |
| Randwick City Council | 8,701 | 4 | 161 | 8,108 | 98% |
| Bayside Council | 9,224 | 4 | 735 | 5,996 | 92% |
| All council areas | 238,147 | 134,874 | 15,941 | 303,765 | 93% |
As part of its delivery of the reforms, Revenue NSW is working with councils to monitor adoption and compliance. This includes regular meetings between councils and Revenue NSW staff, training and webinars for council staff to understand the limits of the ‘limited exceptions’ rule, and ongoing reporting requirements.
Quotes to attributable to Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos:
“The previous government should never have introduced these unfair ticketless parking fines. Three months in, it’s clear our reforms are delivering what we promised.
“Our reforms are about restoring trust in the parking fine system. People deserve to know immediately if they’ve received a fine—not weeks later when it may be too late to challenge it.”
“Councils right across NSW have reverted to on-the-spot notifications, which is exactly what these reforms were designed to do.
“I want to thank councils for their efforts to implement these changes and bringing back fairness and transparency to the parking fine system.
“These commonsense and practical changes mean motorists will no longer be blindsided by fines weeks after parking. They’ll know immediately and have a fair chance to respond.”