Contents
-
Commencement
-
Bills
-
-
Motions
-
-
Parliamentary Procedure
-
Question Time
-
-
Parliamentary Procedure
-
Question Time
-
-
Grievance Debate
-
-
Bills
-
-
Answers to Questions
-
Shop Trading Hours
Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier or his office met with former Liberal candidate and successful esteemed businessman Franz Knoll regarding his opposition to the deregulation of shop trading hours? Former Liberal candidate and esteemed successful businessman Franz Knoll said, and I quote:
Longer shopping hours are not going to give people any more money to spend. What we have now is a good blend that allows people to innovate and expand. If you hollow that out, it's not going to be possible to go into those bigger markets.
The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:18): No, I have not met—
Members interjecting:
The SPEAKER: Order!
The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I have met with—
Members interjecting:
The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!
The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —esteemed businessman Franz Knoll on many occasions—
Members interjecting:
The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and you are right: he is a very successful businessperson, but we seek our advice from a range of people. One of the pieces of advice that we have received on this side of the house was from the Australian Productivity Commission. We were only talking about the establishment of a state-based productivity commission in my last answer to the question that was posed by the member for MacKillop, but the Australian Productivity Commission actually looked at this issue of the deregulation of shop trading hours. What they found was that if they looked at the deregulation in the Queensland economy, for example, this would be a benefit to that economy of $200 million per year. It referenced South Australia in that report, and they said that there would be a similar benefit derived here in South Australia.
My question to the opposition is: why don't they care about creating jobs in South Australia? Why do they want to hold our state back? It makes no sense to us on this side of the house. We want to grow our economy. We want jobs. I have heard all sorts of idiotic ideas from those opposite. One was that kids need to spend time with their parents on Sunday morning. Let me tell you, I've got two teenage kids and they don't want to spend any time with me on a Sunday morning. They want to stay in bed.
Members interjecting:
The SPEAKER Order!
The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The only time I would ever see them on a Sunday morning is if I had the opportunity to drive them to work. Unfortunately, those opposite want to block young people getting their first job in South Australia. We want to change that arrangement, like they have in most other jurisdictions in Australia. And guess what? The world hasn't finished because of deregulation.
The SPEAKER: Before I call the next speaker, I call to order the members for Reynell and Lee, and I warn for the first time the member for West Torrens.