ANZAC Day Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question on the topic of ANZAC Day shop trading hours to the Treasurer.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Under current South Australian arrangements, CBD stores may open from 12 noon on ANZAC Day. Indeed, in other areas across the state, in our regions, there are less restrictions than that. Meanwhile, in Victoria and New South Wales stores are only open from 1pm onwards. In Tasmania, they can only open from 12.30pm onwards, and in Western Australia and Queensland the stores are closed. Yet a news story on Channel 7 reported, on this ANZAC Day just gone, that the Treasurer will, and I quote, 'review current laws for this special day to find a common-sense solution' and, when interviewed for the segment that called for a further deregulation of shop trading hours in the CBD on ANZAC Day, the Treasurer stated, 'We are looking at that in terms of what is a sensible position; certainly the current laws are not sensible.'

My question to the Treasurer is then, therefore, with South Australia currently having the least restrictive ANZAC Day shop trading laws of any state or territory in the country, can the Treasurer now rule out any further deregulation of shop trading hours on ANZAC Day?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (17:08): No. The government has indicated its position in relation to shop trading reform and the honourable member will have the opportunity when the bill is introduced to express her views in relation to this particular aspect. As the member indirectly referred to, with shop trading hours on ANZAC Day for example in Mount Barker and virtually every part of regional South Australia, including my hometown of Mount Gambier, the Riverland and the Whyalla region for example, the shops can open ANZAC morning or any time of the day. They can open Christmas Day and they can open on Good Friday. In the end, the majority of them don't, but they are not restricted by shop trading hours regulation.

The argument as to why stores in Mount Barker, for example, could open on ANZAC Day morning and four, five or however many kilometres away at Stirling they can't doesn't make much sense to me. It might make some sense to other members, but it doesn't make much sense to me as to the difference between Stirling and Mount Barker.

These are the sorts of challenges to which, when the shop trading hours legislation comes before parliament, members will have to address themselves. As I said, the shop trading laws in relation to ANZAC Day morning for the vast bulk of the regional areas of South Australia are completely unregulated or deregulated as they exist at the moment.

In relation to the issue of whether it should be 12, 12.30 or 1.30, the position that is in the legislation at the moment is 12 o'clock, as the member has pointed out, and essentially that has been the policy position that the government has indicated we would accept in the greater metropolitan area district: the restriction of trading on Good Friday, Christmas Day and ANZAC Day morning, and I guess on any reasonable definition of what 'morning' is, that goes up to 12 o'clock. That has been the government position. Ultimately, the honourable member will have the opportunity, when the legislation comes before the parliament, to express her view on that particular aspect of the shop trading hours reform.