Shop Trading Hours

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:08): My question is to the Premier. What comparison is being used when describing South Australia as an economic backwater and what evidence does the government have to demonstrate deregulated retail trading hours will, rather than increase costs, increase retail spending in South Australia and what increase is forecast? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: In an article in The Australian on 17 June, outgoing Treasurer Lucas claims South Australia is derided as an economic backwater because of trading hours, yet the McKell Institute's March 2018 report on the economic impact of deregulation of Boxing Day trading hours in New South Wales shows there was no dramatic uplift in retail spending since December 2015, when businesses were first permitted to trade without restriction.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:09): I am not familiar with the Treasurer's specific words that the member refers to, but I am often confronted with people who are here staying in Adelaide on holidays from interstate or from overseas and they do find it very unusual that the shops close at 5pm on a Saturday night and don't reopen until 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. I think that many people would consider this completely and utterly inconvenient and quite out of kilter with what goes on in other parts of the country and other parts of the world.

We have had a policy for a long period of time, and we have in some ways implemented that policy during the COVID pandemic—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —where we did extend trading times. This was done after receiving some advice—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —from SA Health that we needed to spread the hours that businesses were open so that we could, if you like, reduce the density of people. Rather than concentrating the density of people around the existing opening hours, we extended that.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We didn't have a freefall in terms of job creation and a massive escalation in prices like some of our political opponents have asserted over a long period of time. In fact, we had quite the opposite. People found it convenient. It was healthier for people with regard to greater levels of distance that could be created when we weren't concentrating people going to those shops around narrower shop trading hours. What we saw in South Australia, and I think this is something that all South Australians can be very proud of, was record reflections in consumer—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —sentiment in South Australia, record in terms of business sentiment in South Australia and investor sentiment—quite the opposite from what our political opponents would assert with regard to following this policy which has existed for a very long period of time in other jurisdictions.

But, more than that, it's the current policy outside metropolitan Adelaide. Those opposite want to assert that for some reason there's going to be a massive increase in prices of groceries right across South Australia if we adopt the situation which has existed in country SA for decades and decades and decades. There's plenty of choice in places like Mount Barker, which has complete deregulation. In fact, I am not hearing any calls from those opposite for regulation of shop trading hours in Mount Gambier to stave off the evil of the extended shop trading hours.

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It would be quite ridiculous to start to regulate the shop trading hours in Mount Barker, but that is, in fact, what is essentially the position of the Australian Labor Party for metropolitan Adelaide. It serves no purpose, it reduces choice, it reduces the number of hours available for people to work in these roles, and what it does is it drives people to online sales. When you do not have convenient shop trading hours, it drives people online. When we look at those statistics, we in South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —have a higher proportion of online sales than other jurisdiction. We want to back those people who have invested in bricks-and-mortar businesses here in South Australia, who are employing people here in South Australia. Those opposite want to stick with an antiquated system, which, quite frankly, over the life of COVID-19 has proved to be complete and utterly ineffectual.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Florey, I warn for a second time the member for Lee.