Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:47): This is to clarify the Treasurer's early answer in regard to changes to the approval process. Is the minister saying that he has made no changes administratively to the method of approval for Sunday trading in the weeks leading up to Christmas?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:47): What I said—and I can only repeat it—is that the underlying premise of making these decisions is the shop trading legislation. That hasn't changed. In terms of the actual consultation process, I did change the consultation process. I understand I did. I am not entirely familiar with what the Labor Party used to do, but the process I adopted was to write to stakeholders and say, 'What say you about Christmas trading hours suggestions?'

My understanding was, but I wasn't actively engaged at the time—and you can speak to the union bosses, the shoppies union and former ministers—that there was a different sort of consultation process under the Labor government, where the shoppies union had much greater say and much greater power in relation to what was approved and what was not approved; that is, in essence, to use my phrase, they had a de facto veto right. That is, if the shoppies union didn't agree to something, then the Labor Party and the Labor government wouldn't agree to it either.

Under the new Liberal government, the shoppies union, unsurprisingly, don't have the same control that they might have had under the former Labor government. The consultation process was different, but in terms of what governs the approval process, which was the member's question, that's the shop trading hours legislation, and that stays the same, obviously, because there's been no change to the legislation.