City parking attracts a cost to make it fair on everybody. If you occupy a parking spot you should pay for it. Some council car parks in the state allow free parking periods during the day, which is a good and practical community service to ensure a reasonable turnover of parking spots.

Fine defaulting on parking fees, where there is clearly no intention of paying the fine, is theft. It is dishonest and arrogant, unlike the debtor who genuinely tries to negotiate a payment schedule.

Jail is probably an inappropriate and fruitless remedy. Other remedies could include drivers licence disqualification, registration cancellation, vehicle impoundment and, in extreme cases, vehicle confiscation.

It is not good enough nor fair on other Launceston residents for there to be outstanding parking fines in the order of $2 million with 20,000 outstanding infringements. The $7.5 million debt identified in Hobart last year is a joke. It is money that could be used to improve city infrastructure and community activity.

This type of unlawful behaviour demands action to recover the money. Naming serial offenders, confiscating assets to meet the cost of the fines and denying them the legal right to use the road is the only language these thieves understand.

Maybe it will take a hip-pocket attack to make them realise that fine defaulting is not a clever game of avoidance and deception.

NEPAL

Our thoughts and prayers today are with the people of Nepal as they battle the aftermath of the massive earthquake that has so far killed more than 3000.

It often takes a devastating earthquake or tsunami to remind us how vulnerable we are to the earth's natural elements.

The distraught Australian families with members missing in the region are also in our thoughts. Australia has been, and will always be generous with financial and emergency relief no matter where natural disasters occur.