Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:55): Supplementary: the Treasurer refers to what the information is about the current law, but he is saying that he will not provide that information to retailers so they can abide by the law. Am I understanding correctly that the Treasurer will not provide guidelines to retailers on what the government's advice is as to what the law is as it currently stands?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:55): There are guidelines that have been already outlined in relation to the shop trading hours legislation. But, in relation to the honourable member's supplementary question as to whether we will provide the legal advice that we have received, the answer is no.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: Guidelines and information.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The guidelines are there with the act and the guidelines are already there, but there are vexed legal issues.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: So you want to gaol them instead of providing them clarity? That is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The honourable member knows not what she is saying. I have never said, and it is factually incorrect to suggest, that I want to gaol independent retailers. The honourable member said I wanted to gaol supermarket operators. It is not possible under the legislation. The honourable member knows it's not possible. It's an outrageous claim from the Hon. Ms Scriven. It does her no good at all to make those sorts of claims in the house of parliament that in some way I, as minister, want to gaol supermarket operators.

I actually just wanted, on behalf of the government, to allow supermarket operators to trade whenever they wanted to. So the supermarket operator in Millicent, if he or she wanted to trade whenever he or she wanted, I wanted to do it. It is actually the Hon. Mr Scriven and her party who want the current silly, antiquated, outdated laws to apply where, ultimately, a legal question as to whether or not the 400 square metre rule includes being able to move the fridges and freezers in from the wall and therefore subtract that from the 400 square metres, or whether it means that you can actually not count where you sell cigarettes to people because in some way that doesn't come into the 400 square metre calculation, as some retailers have argued.

All of those difficult legal issues—as I said, the government has its legal advice. Retailers may well have their own legal advice. Until we end up with these silly, antiquated, outdated laws being tested and judged by a court of law, we won't ultimately know which set of lawyers are correct or not. The government has to take the advice of Crown law in relation to the legal advice. Retailers will have to take their own advice in relation to whether they disagree with the legal advice the government has got. It is a simple as that. There is a simple solution to all of this: actually reform the outdated, silly, antiquated laws and allow people to trade when they want to.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The Leader of the Opposition actually has some legal training, or so I was advised. Until a court actually determines what the law actually means or says, the guidelines can only be on the basis of Crown law's advice. I have indicated that all we can do is rely on the Crown's advice in relation to what the legal position is. Ultimately, the retailers will have to take their own advice and, as I said, if there is a dispute, it will be up to a judge to determine which set of lawyers are correct or not.