Retail and Commercial Leases (Designated Anchor Lease) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 17 March 2021.)

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (11:24): I rise to speak on the member for Florey's private member's bill, which has been introduced into this place in order to insert a new hardship provision into the Retail and Commercial Leases Act. I further note that the Attorney-General has indicated the government will not be supporting this bill for various reasons indicated in her speech, which I can go through as well.

In terms of the bill itself, in layman's terms it seeks to force landlords to renegotiate rental agreements with specialist retail tenants as a consequence of an anchor tenant leaving a shopping centre. This is meant to be undertaken within three months of an anchor tenant providing notice of their departure. Further, until the rent review is determined by an independent valuer, the rent would be reduced by the greater of either 10 per cent or an amount prescribed in the regulations.

Of course, this came in response to and in the midst of COVID. It bears in mind overall retail shopping within shopping centres and malls across South Australia and Australia. We can see that there really is a symbiotic relationship between the big anchor tenants who draw the bulk of pedestrians through and the specialist retail tenants who flourish around them.

Anchor tenants could be supermarkets like Coles, Woolworths, Aldi or Foodland here in South Australia, or it could be a cinema—down at Glenelg we have the GU Film House—or even a department store that provides a big drawcard. They tend to be the tenant that attracts the highest volume of foot traffic to a specified area, and then that benefits those smaller specialist retail tenants around them. It builds an ecosystem and, as I said, it is usually quite symbiotic.

If I look at some of the situations in the electorate of Morphett, we have the Bayside Village Shopping Centre down at Glenelg, which is on the corner of Jetty Road and Brighton Road. It has a large Woolworths, which certainly is fantastic. I was down there just last Friday with the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay and we were holding a food drive. When people went to do their shopping, we provided them with a list of non-perishable items and toiletries so that, if they could, they would buy just one extra item, pop it in their shopping trolley and leave it with the Rotary Club on the way out. We then collected all those items and gave them to some really worthy charities, including Mary's Kitchen at St Andrew's by the Sea Uniting Church, which is one of those groups that helps feed not only the homeless but those who are struggling.

That was fantastic, and the generosity of some people was amazing. We had shoppers who came up with their shopping trolley—it would not have been full but certainly you could not see the bottom—and said, 'Here, have this,' and it had one of everything: soup, baked beans, cereal, deodorant, Cup a Soup. It was fantastic. You could see that the Woolworths definitely attracted a lot of people, hence why the very worthy Rotary Club set up there.

Of course, there are also other great magnets of activity that draw people in there. We have Australia Post, where people need to do their post. That is another fantastic facility that you could argue really helps bring people there. We have the BWS in there as well, which is reasonably popular. They are really quite substantive businesses.

Then there are the smaller specialty retail shops. They include, but are not limited to—I never like to leave them out—multiple cafes, like Il Kafe, which is a great one where I quite often go to meet constituents and talk through the issues of the day, and Kicco, which is very popular and in the mall itself as you walk through. We also have a great travel agent in Phil Hoffmann Travel. Obviously, with the closing of international borders and cruise ships, he has done it tough, but he has kept a positive relationship. I have tried to work closely with him to see where I as the local member can assist and draw to the attention of the powers that be the challenges he faces. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.