In Question Time yesterday, the Canberra Liberals asked the minister to assure the Assembly and residents that no more public car parks at Kippax will be sold off without replacement parking being provided, but Minister Steel refused to give that assurance and instead foreshadowed future development applications.

The Kippax Masterplan requires that any redevelopment of existing car parks must ‘provide replacement public parking’ and that ‘the existing provision of convenient and accessible car parking … should be retained as development and redevelopment occur.’ The government violated these requirements last year when it sold off a car park with no replacement. You just can’t trust Labor and the Greens to keep their promises or follow their own rules.

In response, more than 500 frustrated residents signed a petition over just three days. They called on the government to fix this mess and recommended three practical solutions. The government has failed to act on even one of those recommendations. Its only response has been to shift 16 park-and-ride bays and to tell shoppers to park in Moyes Crescent – a 400m walk across the oval – or use the cricket ground 650m down the street.

Minister Steel is out of touch. He doesn’t get that mums with young children and full trolleys just can’t do that. Older residents just can’t do that. Shoppers with impaired mobility just can’t do that. This Labor-Greens government doesn’t understand West Belconnen.

The minister cites a government survey to claim parking demand at Kippax was only 84 per cent. I invite him to join me there to see the reality now. I was at Kippax at 11:30am last Wednesday, and the car park in front of Woolworths was 98 per cent full. Yes, I counted! Over two hours, I spoke with dozens of shoppers. Nearly all reported that parking is difficult, and most said that it has got much worse since the car park was sold.

Older shoppers have been greatly impacted. Several told me they had relied on the now-closed car park because it gave them more room to park and open their car doors wide to get in and out, especially if they use wheelchairs or walking frames.

Several shoppers told me that they have started driving to Belconnen or other shopping centres that don’t require them to tediously circle Kippax waiting for somewhere to park. This situation has impacted shopkeepers, who report fewer customers and fewer sales.

This Labor-Greens government doesn’t care, and in fact, as the minister made clear in Question Time yesterday, he is willing to make matters worse.