The ACT Attorney-General, Gary Humphries, has sensibly used shaming to induce diplomats and diplomatic missions in Canberra to pay their parking fines. People driving diplomatic cars have incurred $32,292 in unpaid parking fines. The missions should ensure they are paid and warn their staff to obey ACT law. A DC plate is not a licence to park anywhere. It is not only a question of obeying the law, but also a question of good manners to the citizens of Canberra. Parking rules are made to ration the use of precious space and enable the orderly use of vehicles in the city for the benefit of all. If some members of the diplomatic corps hog precious space by overstaying or cause obstruction the rest of the community is inconvenienced.
Mr Humphries knows that the fines cannot be enforced through the courts because of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity. Nor can the ACT Government threaten to withdraw governmental services such as garbage removal or water, because the convention requires that missions get reasonable access to them and the Federal Government would step in if they were denied.
So Mr Humphries has used the one sensible legitimate weapon he can: shame. So shame on Iran, Russia, Germany, Peru Chile, Bosnia, Spain, Pakistan, China and Greece, for running up fines of more than $1000 each. Praise to those missions who insist their staff do the right thing.
Mr Humphries is to prepare an annual list of non-paying missions. The Canberra Times will happily publish it and congratulate the missions who do the right thing.