Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): Supplementary arising from the answer: despite the Treasurer claiming that out of the goodness of their hearts there are some suburban shopping centres that won't be forcing small businesses to open, is there any guarantee that that will be continued in the future, and is there a legal way to prevent them from doing it, except some sort of, 'We promise we won't do it this time'?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:28): If there was comprehensive legal reform, we could have a look at a range of these particular issues, but of course the union bosses and their spokespersons in the Labor caucus won't even entertain a debate about shop trading hours reform, so the existing law has to be used, as has been used by Labor ministers like minister Rau for many years, in terms of using existing powers and existing shop trading hours legislation.

Certainly, the important point is that the government is taking action to ensure that no trader will be forced to trade on Boxing Day this particular year. We will monitor the situation and look at what, if any, action might need to be taken after considering the merits or otherwise of the Boxing Day trade this coming Boxing Day.

It may well be—I don't think so—that the union bosses and the Labor Party are right, that is, there is no demand for Boxing Day trading in the suburbs. Certainly, it is not my view or the government's view. We think the community is clamouring to be able to trade on Boxing Day, but we will have to make that judgement to see whether the Labor Party and the union bosses are correct or not.

If we make that judgement, if we are prepared to have a look again at some stage in the future at future Boxing Day trading under the existing legislation, we would monitor all these sorts of issues and see what, if anything, might need to be done. Certainly, the initial advice that we have received, coming back to the legal aspect of the question, is that the current structure of that particular piece of legislation has meant that virtually all of the leases that currently exist don't allow landlords to compel their tenants to open during non-core trading hours. In the suburbs, because non-core trading hours haven't included Boxing Day, for example, it hasn't been a feature of the leasing arrangements within those lease agreements.

Putting that aside, the government has taken action. We are not just sitting back. We have indicated that traders shouldn't be forced to trade and workers shouldn't be forced to work. I think all of the major suburban shopping centres that we have currently consulted have indicated that they have taken action already or are in the process of making it quite clear to their traders that they won't be forced to trade. As I said, proof positive is the butcher from Marion, who indicated that he wasn't going to trade. He obviously doesn't believe that he's going to be forced to trade or can be forced to trade.