A FULL-TIME wheelchair user for 54 years, Noel Hiffernan OAM is calling on residents to provide extensive feedback to Council on the Port Macquarie Town Centre Parking Precinct Plan.
A fierce advocate for people with a disability, Mr Hiffernan is passionate about ensuring accessible, safe and effective parking for all.
The draft plan proposes several short-term actions including clear signage, increased use of technology, improved safety around pedestrian crossings, changes to time limits, relocation of accessible parking, and more parking for bicycles.
“The draft plan sets a staged approach to improve how on-street parking is managed in the Town Centre, helping people find a space more easily, supporting local business turnover, and improving walking connections and safety,” Port Macquarie Hastings Council said in a statement.
The plan also discusses introducing paid parking in the Port Macquarie town centre in the long term.
Mr Hiffernan has urged users of the area to have their say.
“Unless an everyday person tells Council what is adequate or inadequate, Council simply doesn’t have sufficient information to implement plans,” Mr Hiffernan told NOTA.
“Modern cars are often larger, so existing infrastructure doesn’t necessarily accommodate them.”
A well-known community figure in the Camden Haven, Mr Hiffernan has a long history of advocacy under his belt.
In the early 1980s he acquired 486 parking tickets.
At that point in time Australia did not have the disabled parking scheme that operates today, and he found that he was consistently receiving tickets as his accessibility needs meant he was in the spot longer than permitted.
Additionally, it was difficult to find a spot that was large enough to accommodate a wheelchair next to his vehicle.
At one point the parking fines got so significant that a warrant was issued for his arrest and he spent a weekend in Parramatta Jail.
The media attention given to this contributed to a widespread accessible parking scheme being instituted by the government in the late 1980s.
Submissions to the draft parking plan are open until 7 April 2026 on the Council’s Have Your Say website, via email to council@pmhc.nsw.gov.au or via post to CEO Port Macquarie Hastings Council, PO Box 84, Port Macquarie NSW 2444.
By Rachael THORPE
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
