Bills

Local Government (Mobile Food Vendors) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Debate resumed.

Ms COOK (Fisher) (12:17): It is no surprise that I am supporting this piece of legislation. I am very pleased to be able to rise to support the member for Kaurna on this. The City of Adelaide has certainly changed over the past three decades. It is much more vibrant, with small bars popping up in our side streets, dining spilling out onto the footpaths and a real multicultural vibe that is evident. It is an exciting place to walk around with family and friends. I have always loved my home town, but now it is so much more alive.

Ironically, two of the things that make it feel much more alive are a real 'back to the future' with trams and food trucks. The late-night walk of shame out of an inner-city nightclub as a young adult was never complete without a pit stop at the pie-cart. I recall one of them was placed near Victoria Square, and there was another at some point under the Morphett Street bridge on North Terrace. If I remember way back before that, one was conveniently located, ready for a purchase, outside the Railway Station, where you could then tip the pie down the front of yourself on a bumpy train ride in the Redhen on the way back to Christie Downs station.

I am not sure that we looked upon the pie-cart as some kind of bold proposition or stroke of genius entrepreneurship, but that is how many of us now actually look at food trucks. I am sure I am not the only person who had my first encounter with a modern food truck with a degree of scepticism and nervousness, even perhaps a hidden urge to quickly wish for some type of yet undiscovered vaccine to food poisoning—a crazy, irrational thought, to be honest, having travelled South-East Asia with my weak-stomached family to street food carts, where I could pay the equivalent of 20¢ for a meal rather than a couple of bucks in the tourist strip.

The food trucks are a real stop of convenience. At night-time, they are there just for that quick pit stop, used to buy something quickly that will fill a hole on the journey home or give you some stamina before going to another show or venue. Something else that is not considered so much is how they wake up perhaps a taxi rank or a place where people are situated waiting to get home. It is these kinds of things in our city precinct that really help to minimise risk and improve safety for people who venture out at night.

During the day, they actually wake up a park or a square. I have met people outside to do business many times in the CBD, grabbing a quick lunch from a food truck, sitting and enjoying the sun and fresh air, rather than actually sitting inside a venue. The way food trucks bring to life these darkened streets at night and green spaces both in the CBD and metropolitan area during the day is a huge benefit from an entertainment, wellbeing and tourism point of view. In recent years, too, with the advent of food TV, we have become quite the community of foodies, and the diverse offerings create an opportunity to engage in food-based conversation on another level.

All around, they really add something to our community. They liven it up and give us a real alternative. Of course, overheads are a barrier to start-up businesses. They are a barrier to cash-strapped and capital-strapped entrepreneurs. Food trucks are a great option for these entrepreneurs to test out their goods on the market without having to commit to a hefty lease or overheads. This bill will help us to encourage more of this activity and it will boost our economy. It is also important to note that many food truck vendors have already gone on to establish fixed businesses. They are not just fly-by-nighters: they are real start-ups.

It is not just here that they have had success. Burger Theory is now taking on the Chinese market. Some other examples of vendors who have established fixed venues include Low & Slow American BBQ, Delectaballs, Johnny's Popcorn, Coffee Cow, Mischief Brew, Fat Buddha rolls, Veggie Velo, Abbots and Kinney, Bodri's Hungarian Artisan Bakery and my all-time favourite, named Sneaky Pickle. The Fork on the Road events that are held across the metropolitan area are also an amazing way to showcase the phenomenon of food trucks and really demonstrate the popularity and interest that has been generated.

Different councils approach this phenomenon in a number of ways. It really must be very difficult for these small business operators. I am sure many of them are one-person or two-person bands and I would like to see the red tape made as unrestrictive as possible for them. This bill and the accompanying regulations, I am sure, will create some consistency across the state, while still recognising the regional government role around local knowledge. It acknowledges the benefits of this type of business to local vibrancy, local economies and culture. I am reassured that the Adelaide City Council impact studies show that food trucks are only taking up 0.15 per cent of the market.

I hope this is some comfort also to the bricks and mortar businesses, which have expressed some concern regarding the impact of these lower overhead concerns. Of course, I want to see employment maintained in cafes and bars. I would hope that the bricks and mortar businesses could operate in reverse as well—a little like the pie-cart concept—and bring their produce to the people out of the walls and into the streets, bringing them to life. I hope councils use this to their advantage and work with vendors in order to wake up spaces, use the infrastructure already invested in to create alive hubs where families and groups of friends can gather and enjoy each other's company. It is a great alternative to packing a picnic.

Key points to note in the bill include businesses being subject to the same public health and work safety standard as businesses in fixed premises. The bill does not apply to parks or private property: that remains under council control. It applies to the use of streets. Councils remain in control of the permits and have the power to revoke them. The member for Goyder spoke earlier about the application of these suspensions or terminations of the permits being up to six months before they are able to reapply, which I think is sensible. The member for Goyder also mentioned vendors having to notify all councils where they currently hold permits—obviously, it may be possible for them to hold permits across more than one local area—if they have actually breached or lost authority to operate.

The state government has worked very hard to cut costs to small businesses in the past two budgets, making South Australia a really attractive place to do business. We support trading hours and trade that our economy can support. I am a bit confused about the opposition's position regarding this bill. It is in contradiction to its position on Uber, for example. I am not sure that the opposition is entirely sure about its position when it comes to small business.

The member for Goyder said that the state government should not have this type of regulation over local government, but only half an hour ago I listened to them talking about capping rates where the state government would definitely have some control over where the councils are in terms of setting their rates. For me, that policy is all over the place, and if I am confused I can only imagine what the public are thinking right now.

After listening on the weekend to the discussion about the deregulation of trading hours and the lack of encouragement and support for this bill, on the question of whether or not the Liberal Party is supporting small business, I am saying: not at this point. I warn the community. As we move towards these policies where they are not supporting small business and where there is going to be open slather on trading hours, I say to the community: do not be fooled. The big business party is not caring about the working class small business owner and they are not caring about the working class who are very reliant on penalty rates for their wellbeing.

It is not about you. You will not be able to compete with the big end of town as a small business owner. There is no additional shopping money around in our community. We do not have the population to sustain unregulated trading hours. Our tourism hubs will lose their appeal and our small traders will buckle under the pressure. Also, my constituents, my friends, my family who give up their valuable time with their families to serve their community—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order.

Ms COOK: —where the only compensation for this being additional money—

Mr Bell interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is called to order.

Ms COOK: —earned through penalty rates, I say to you that it is disingenuous to suggest that there can be a conversation about opening up trading hours in isolation of a conversation about removing penalty rates. That will be the next big story.

Mr Bell interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier. You are both defying the chair, and that is an appalling thing to do.

Ms COOK: That will be the next big story, and the only ally in the community that you have to fight for your penalty rates is this government—a Labor government. Those against penalty rates will not be there to take your calls on the weekend or after hours, but I digress. Food trucks are here to stay. For my children, they are already commonplace. Done right, they will support our vision of Adelaide being a progressive, interesting and innovative place to live and play. I congratulate the member for Kaurna on this great piece of advocacy and leadership in this space. He has been front and centre on the issue, bringing this first bill to the house, and I commend it to members.