Federal vs Council traffic dilemma

[Slap Bassist]

Federal office with no parking, employee directed me to a street park in front of their building.
A traffic sign changed the street from parking to no parking during the meeting, I returned to find council had left me a little something on my windscreen.
This is the same council I have spent years volunteering for, so I'm more than familiar with them.
The federal agency were apologetic and offered a letter indemnifying me, but not to pay the fine or anything.
I appealed the fine through council, they refused the letter and made me pay (last day was during a Covid lockdown complicating things).
I requested a review which found if I had launched a second appeal they would have overturned it, as it was now paid they regarded it as resolved.
They also offered me a civic commendation as they owed me some acknowledgement for my service (but not to repay the fine, say), which I take as evidence they know they should have accepted the federal agency letter and quashed the fine.
I've never heard of a "secret double appeal", don't believe them to be acting in good faith and this nasty bit of victim blaming is especially annoying.
Any idea how to make this even?

 

[Tim W]

Where you park is always on you.
The explanatory letter (it was never an indemnity) might have worked
if you had court-elected the infringement at the time.

The fine's now paid? This thing is over.

There's no legal mechanism available to either the Council or the Commonwealth to give you any money for this.
Take the community award, bask in the publicity, smirk to yourself at the irony, and move on.

 

[Slap Bassist]

Thank you so much for the sterling advice ... still want my pound of flesh. I counter suggested a civic award with a cash prize to the exact same value as the stupid traffic fine.
While they did say "No", their mask did slip a bit at that to the point where any doubts I might have had that the "secret double appeal" was anything but a gaslight were dispelled.

 

[Docupedia]

You don’t get a pound of flesh from the government. There’s no winning here. Tim’s advice is good.

 

[Slap Bassist]

I've already made them acknowledge they were wrong, they've apologised without doing anything concrete. They'd love to give me the commendation at a public ceremony.
It's pyrrhic, but they've put more effort into this than it was worth to them. I hope they choke on their award.