No end to costly parking

GOLD Coasters will continue to spend up big on hospital parking as the State Government considers options.

Secure Parking charges $17 a day at the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) while the publicly owned Robina Hospital car park is just $5.

The GCUH car park deal was agreed to under a State Government decision at the time of the build.

Secure has consistently told the Bulletin it does not control the price of the fees. However, the State Government argues the agreement with Secure merely caps the price with CPI.

Both would not go into details of the contract as they were “commercial in confidence”.

Health Minister Steven Miles yesterday said he was still looking into the issue and reiterated the Government’s com- mitment to build future car parks to ensure affordable rates.

“The Palaszczuk Government are spending more money than ever before on hospital car parking concessions,” he said.

“We will continue to look at parking affordability options.”

The issue blew up this week when Gold Coast mother Donna Watts Smith told the Bulletin she could not visit her sick daughter Sammie in hospital every day because of the $17a-day parking fees. Sammie has cystic fibrosis and is often in hospital for weeks on end.

Southport Sharks manager Chris Jones, who helped establish the club’s $6-a-day parking facility in 2015 to help hospital families and staff, said the demand for parking was l strong.

“We did it to help the community and we are still busy when it comes to daily parking,” he said.

BULLETIN’S VIEW, P68