Shop Trading Hours

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier commit to undertaking economic modelling on the impact of deregulation of shop trading hours on South Australian businesses? In Budget and Finance on Monday, Under Treasurer David Reynolds confirmed that he was not aware of any work that had been done on the economic impact of deregulation in South Australia, nor has he been asked by the government to undertake any such economic modelling.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:04): It's amazing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I don't know whether Kevin Naughton has run out of questions or what's going on over there.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will not respond to interjections. The Premier will answer the question, and he will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I am happy to answer this question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It's not a revelation to know that we have not asked the Under Treasurer to conduct economic modelling. This is not something that we would ask him to do. He is a very capable person. We arrived at our decision after careful consideration, and that consideration has taken place over a long period of time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order! The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It wasn't something that we just dreamt up on the spot. It was something that we considered and it was something that we spoke to people about. We announced it in September 2016. People have had plenty of time to adjust to the fact that the new government wants to grow our economy, and that will have some implications. I'm not suggesting for one second that every single trader in South Australia will see this as a benefit to their business. I am making a decision, and this government will be making a decision on behalf of the totality.

The arguments offered by those opposite are very similar to the arguments that were put forward by people when South Australia was discussing whether or not we would deregulate shop trading hours in the sixties and seventies. By the same sort of syllogism offered by those opposite, we would have to go back to restricting hours because, by their argument, if we restricted shop trading hours even further—let's just say we only opened shopping hours on Mondays between nine and 12 and everybody had to go and buy all their products between nine and 12—that would cut out a lot of costs in business. Guess what? They would argue—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that would be a benefit to business.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It didn't work that well in Soviet Russia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It didn't work that well in some other central governments that those over there aspire to or look up to.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The reality is that the wall came down. Consumers should be given the opportunity to shop. Shopkeepers, retailers and owners of businesses should be given the opportunity to open when it suits their business. Only those on this side of the parliament want to provide that choice to our economy and to provide that growth to our economy to create those jobs for our next generation.