SHOP TRADING HOURS (RUNDLE MALL TOURIST PRECINCT) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 10 February 2011.)

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (10:32): I rise to support this bill on opening up—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PEDERICK: —shop trading hours in the Rundle Mall precinct. The precinct the member for Adelaide talks about is more than just a shopping precinct; it is a tourism precinct, and I just wonder whether the government, on the other side of this place, recognises the value of tourism to this state. You can certainly see the value of tourism when you go into a tourism precinct such as Glenelg, in the member for Morphett's electorate. It is very vibrant over weekends, with shops, restaurants and businesses open for trade, and people who come into this state know that they can go down there and participate in social activities and dining, as well as browsing through the shops if they like. It is a great setting.

I think it would really open up the city if we opened up the central business area as a tourism and shopping precinct. Only recently, with the visit of two cruise ships to Adelaide, we had to go through the scenario of getting special exemption so that shops could open longer hours. That certainly does seem ridiculous in the 24-hour world we now live in; people do not work nine to five in many occupations. Health and mining are two major examples in this state: the mining industry operates for 24 hours a day as a matter of need, and the health sector does as well.

However, we are not talking about 24 hours as far as opening in the tourism precinct is concerned; we are talking about people having the right to go into that precinct on weekends, generally in daylight hours on a Saturday or Sunday, to conduct business, go to restaurants and just enjoy the benefits of being out in Adelaide and this state. It just seems ridiculous that we seem to have this closed-door policy to our central business district in this state, when we could make it so much better and so much more inviting, and make Adelaide open for business and much more attractive not just to tourists but also to country people like myself.

Sometimes, the only opportunity to get to the city is on weekends for many country people, especially from the seat of Hammond, which stretches out to Pinnaroo on the Victorian border. Those people want the opportunity, when they do get the time to come to the city to do their business, to do a bit of shopping and have a bit of leisure time, knowing that places are open. I believe that the centre of Adelaide misses out on a lot of finance not just from people outside the state but from people who live in this state and who come into the city to do business. I fully commend the bill introduced by the member for Adelaide. I think it is an excellent bill to be before this house, and I think the parliament should definitely get behind it.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (10:36): I support this motion although, as a free-trader, I do not believe there should be any restriction on when shops open.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: It is a bill, rather than a motion.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: Well, I think the former attorney has passed a lot of motions in his time, but he can call it a bill or a motion; whatever he likes.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: I won't add to the tone of the debate. I believe in free trade. I do not believe it should be a crime in South Australia to shop. It is, and it should not be. We have anomalies in terms of who can open when and so on, and it is quite bizarre. I fully support this, but I would like to see it go further.

I had quite a bit to do with the changes a few years ago when the shopping hours were expanded, and I commend the member for Lee, who was the minister at the time, and the government of the day for bringing about those changes. I am meeting shortly with Mr Malinauskas from the shop, distributive and allied union to talk about a proposal which I am keen to see happen and which particularly affects people in my area; that is, they want to be able to shop on a Sunday morning, earlier than the 11am start for supermarkets.

I believe it is not unreasonable for supermarkets to open at 9am on a Sunday morning, because a lot of people want to go to church later, people want to have family picnics and they want to be able to get fresh produce, and I believe the current 11am opening is inappropriate. In fact, in my electorate on a Sunday morning—I know members might be surprised that I am often in the office on a Sunday morning—people are queuing up to get into the supermarket at 11am.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: I would have thought they were queuing up to see you.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: No, that's my fan club; they are out there with banners. These are people who want to buy fresh produce. I do not know whether members realise, but I do our grocery shopping. My wife would, but I am happy to do it, and have always done it. Peoples' shopping patterns have now changed; they shop more frequently. They stock less at home and they go to the supermarkets more frequently. The traditional Thursday night, which was the big shopping night, is no longer the case. People have spread their shopping time throughout the week, and I think you will find that the SDA, Coles, Woolworths and Foodland will agree with that.

So, I support this bill, but I believe there should not be any restriction on when people operate. The market will determine when it operates. I do have regard for the shop assistants. They need to be treated appropriately and they need to be paid appropriately. I have never suggested that they be required to work extra time or on weekends if they do not want, but there are plenty of people who are happy to do that—often students—and I am surprised that the SDA in particular does not want to recruit those people as members. It is hard to recruit them if they are not in the workforce working at some of those times when there is a great demand. I talk to these young people (they are often young people) at the checkouts—they are often students working their way through university—and, even though some people treat them inappropriately and with some disdain, they are often very smart young people who are trying to earn enough money to get through university or TAFE.

There are employment opportunities we are denying people because of our restrictive trading, and we will have another example coming up at Easter time. If you look at America—and I am not advocating Good Friday shopping—they have shopping on Good Friday. We keep hearing that we are multicultural and all this sort of stuff, but you are not allowed to shop here in any way comparable with what happens in the United States.

Last week, I went to Brisbane, and one of the many good things they are doing up there is that they have a farmers' market on a Wednesday only at the top of the mall, just across the road from the Queen Street Mall in front of the casino. They have things like Greek cakes (some of which we tested just to make sure they were okay), German breads, home-produced macadamia oils, limited meat and fish, nuts and some artwork. That would be a great thing to see at the end of or near the mall one day a week when it does not clash with the Central Market. It will not take business away from Rundle Street traders because I am not aware of any of them selling large quantities of Greek cakes, German bread, and so on.

So, there is an opportunity to revitalise and make the mall more attractive not only for tourists, as this bill focuses on, but for locals as well. If we are not careful, the city heart will gradually atrophy and become totally dead. I commend the bill and support free trade and not making shopping a crime.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:42): Madam Speaker, I was distracted by wishing you happy birthday—congratulations. Now that the whole house knows, you will be in strife. I support this very important bill. As the member for Morphett, I have the privilege of representing Glenelg, which is the only gazetted tourist area in South Australia at the moment. There are benefits—and we will see them over Easter—to the people of South Australia. The secular society in which we live nowadays wants the time off, wants to be able to do what they want to do and be able to shop, but, at the same time, we should respect the sacred days put forward in our shopping hours legislation, in our Liberal policy and in this bill.

Not to recognise the benefits of this bill and to continue to ignore its benefits would be a travesty. The member for Adelaide has done a lot of work on this. It will not bring down the rest of the retail industry in South Australia, and it will give a huge boost not only to the CBD and the area outlined by the member for Adelaide but it is also a very positive move. For the government not to support this would be a very disappointing thing to do. The need to recognise—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: As the member for Croydon said, I am continually disappointed by this government, under which so many opportunities are lost. What could have been and should have been done: we saw it yesterday with three storeys going on the Women's and Children's. How embarrassed was the minister at not rebuilding the Royal Adelaide on site? The same thing: do not ignore what could and should be done.

This bill is one of these pieces of legislation where the government should hold its head high and say, 'We are in a position of power, power has responsibilities. We are responsible for the future of South Australia, we need to make sure that legislation is going to benefit South Australia,' and this piece of legislation will be one of those pieces of legislation that will benefit the whole of South Australia, the whole of the tourism industry and the whole of the retail industry, not just the Adelaide CBD.

If the pie gets bigger, well, there are more people who want to come and eat off that pie, or you could feed more people off that pie. It is an important piece of legislation. It is an important piece of work that the member for Adelaide has done, and I ask the government, for once in its life, to look at this, to recognise that the quality is there and to support the legislation. To not do so would be betraying the people of South Australia whom it is supposed to be governing in a responsible way.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (10:45): I am delighted to be able to join the debate and support this motion. How refreshing it is to see a new member come into this place and bring in a common-sense bill like this. A new member, a younger member, a refreshing member, and, most important of all, a lady member, and certainly with a very good outlook. A lot of us in this place have travelled. We move around, not that we talk about that very much but we do move around the place. How often do you go to a capital city where—

Members interjecting:

Mr VENNING: Same place, wrong member. You go to a capital city and you find that on weekends the hours are extended. As a member who comes from the Barossa Valley, we rely on flexible trading hours to enable the people who come to the Barossa to be able to shop. There is nothing worse—

Mr Goldsworthy: How's your phone bill?

Mr VENNING: Who, mine?

Mr Goldsworthy: No, Atko.

Mr VENNING: Atko. Phone bill.

Mr Goldsworthy: International roaming Atko.

Mr VENNING: I was on the same list as the member for—

Members interjecting:

Mr VENNING: Anyway, if I can have some quiet here. I do think it is common sense—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Schubert will stop responding to interjections from both sides of the house and say what he has to say.

Mr VENNING: I am all confused now, Madam Speaker—

The SPEAKER: So am I.

Mr VENNING: —when they are in front and behind. It is confusing. Back to the nub of this important bill: I do commend the member for Adelaide for bringing in a bill that I think has widespread support in her electorate of Adelaide.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: She hasn't asked Ovingham.

Mr VENNING: I am sure that a lot of the people of Ovingham would love to have the shops open on the weekends and longer hours because—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr VENNING: Seriously, this is a day when people are working longer, particularly the people in this place, and I, like most of you, love to shop. It is great to be able to shop with my wife. It does not happen very often at all because when I am able to shop, the shops are closed. I would support anything that enables the shopping hours to be freed up. I am very pleased that my party has chosen to support the member for Adelaide in this matter, because we know that over the years shopping hours has been a pretty contentious issue, as it is on both sides of the parliament, particularly on the Labor Party's side.

An honourable member: No, not really.

Mr VENNING: Not really. Well, Madam Speaker, people are trying to reinvent the wheel over there. I do note that the member for Adelaide has even asked to extend this trading area. I did see a map yesterday and, yes, certainly I would support that also and enable it to be moved further to the north. I think the member for Adelaide has not taken very long at all to get a good feel of what her electorate wants and I know her electorate is responding very positively to what people want.

This would be one of a tranche of issues that I am sure the member for Adelaide is going to bring to this house, because she is listening to the people in Adelaide—and not just Adelaide, can I say. I do not live in the electorate of Adelaide, but I certainly want to shop there, and I think that we need to try to bring life back to the CBD. We need to enable the traders who are operating in the CBD to compete against the larger suburban shopping centres who have very good access and cheap car parking.

This is the first step, I think, to enable the CBD, because, after all, it is the most important shopping precinct in South Australia. It is where the tourism hub is, it is where people want to be able to move about and do their shopping, whether it be souvenirs, bric-a-brac or whatever. So, can I, again, commend the member for Adelaide for bringing this to the house. I hope the government will look upon this favourably because it is a common-sense move. If the government opposes it, it will be on its head. I commend the member for Adelaide, and I certainly join in the support for this very timely and common-sense bill.

The SPEAKER: Member for Schubert, you must be the only man who likes shopping with his wife!