The Canberra Liberals would make parking free in Civic after 5.30pm and on weekends in an attempt to lure people to spend at city businesses.
The pitch was part of a day of political promises for the city centre from both major parties with Labor outlining their plans for the CBD.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr also confirmed he had met with ABC chair Kim Williams to plead the case for the broadcaster to move their Canberra office into the planned new Canberra Theatre precinct.
Much of Labor's announcement was repeating their plans for the city, including the theatre project.
Mr Barr has long advocated for the ABC to move to the new precinct.
"There's still some work to do but announcing an intent and working together I think will ensure that public broadcasting has a home at the centre of our city's arts and cultural precinct," he said.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said the Liberals would proceed with the theatre project but indicated the commitment would be based on doing due diligence on the project.
The Liberals' pitch to make parking free after hours and on weekend in government-owned car parks would encourage more people to come to the city, Ms Lee said.
"We know that the city has been hit very hard over the last number of years with a lot of businesses, especially hospitality and retail business are suffering quite a lot and we think that this will go some way of ensuring that we draw people back into the city," she said.
The Liberals have also promised to scrap the city centre marketing improvement levy, which is paid by commercial property owners in the city and parts of Braddon to support "fund events, promote activities, capital improvements and provide cleaning and security services".
But Mr Barr hit out at this commitment saying it would leave a budget hole as the levy funded events in the city but also improvements to publicly accsssible spaces in private buildings.
"That funds a lot of work on private buildings but areas that are publicly accessible so it would be a big hit to both events and city maintenance on privately owned but publicly accessible land," he said.
Ms Lee said the extra taxes were not paying off for business owners.
"The fact is this is the highest taxing government that Canberra has seen in an incredibly long time and most businesses know despite the thousands and thousands of dollars they're paying in taxes and levies and charges, they're not actually getting their bang for buck," she said.
