General News
5 July, 2026
Uni parking shortfall
CQUniversity’s new campus in the CBD has been approved by Cairns Regional Council despite alarm raised over the lack of on-site parking.
During a lengthy debate at the last council meeting, Cr Matthew Tickner (Div. 2) said he was underwhelmed with the proposal and its parking options and called for the development to go back to the applicant to fix.
“The report shows significant non-compliance on car parking, and it is interesting that when council bought that property, it was for a multi-storey car park, and now we’re in a position where the one issue that we’ve really had with this development is the unwillingness to add more car parking into it,” he told the council.
Cr Tickner questioned the rationale of the limited parking spaces, which had gone from a 90-space car park to 48 parking spaces, to cater for a maximum of 287 people on site.
“I feel we are being told, on one hand, this campus is going to have massive economic benefits because we are going to activate the site with students and staff,” he said.
“Then, on the other hand, when it comes down to the development impacts, in particular, car parking, we’re being told … don’t worry, there won’t be that many people in the building at any one time. Which is it?
“It doesn’t really stack up.
“I do see this very often in development in the CBD … when they do come along, everyone gets very excited about the shiny new building and they become very relaxed on the acceptable outcomes of development.
“It has become a bit of death by a 1000 cuts in the city – 40 car parks missed here, 40 car parks missed there, and ‘it’s OK, there’s some other options’, but at the end of the day … we bear the brunt of public backlash once the developers move out of the building and it’s in operation.”
His comments were backed by Cr Cathy Zieger (Div. 3), who said the Cairns Aquarium parking had been another example of disappointing results.
Mayor Amy Eden also confirmed she had been raising the parking issue throughout the development application progress.
“The fact of the matter is, you know, if they’re required to have 89 parks and they’re only going to have to have 48 that is a concern to me,” she said.
“We’re already having a parking issue. We’ve done a car park study at that end of the street, that end of town.
The council voted for the development application, with councillors Tickner and Trevor Tim (Div. 4)opposed.
CQUniversity vice-chancellor Professor Nick Klomp said this week the university understood parking was an important issue in the Cairns CBD and was confident the proposed parking arrangements were appropriate.
“The university has been informed by detailed consideration of student and staff attendance patterns, independent advice and current campus occupancy data,” he said on Wednesday.
The campus would also include 18 bicycle spaces and the university had discussed peak time or event overflow parking issues with surrounding privately-owned car parks.
He welcomed the council’s approval for the campus which represented a major investment in the region’s future.
“This project is about much more than buildings and infrastructure. It is an investment in people, skills, jobs, industry capability and the long-term social and economic resilience of Far North Queensland,” he said.
Construction should start by the end of the year.
