Australian parking is expensive but not THAT expensive. US$16.37 = A$24, even the notorious Sydney Airport is only charging A$21 for two hours, and street parking along the popular beaches would only cost ~A$7 an hour. Most shopping centres in Australia offer 2 to 3 hours free parking.
This says that each city has the parking price pretty high, but I'm not sure how high it is in non-urban places.