Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Industrial Relations regarding shop trading hours in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: On Monday this week, we had a public holiday of course to celebrate Her Majesty's birthday. I am aware that there were extremely long queues just to get into the car park at Harbour Town in the western suburbs of Adelaide, where I am told that some patrons waited an hour or so just to get a car park. Of course, there are only a limited number of shopping precincts open on this particular day, due to South Australia's draconian shop trading hours legislation. The former Marshall Liberal government sought to deregulate shop trading hours twice to provide businesses the opportunity to operate when they want and to offer patrons more choice as to when and where they shop.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bourke! Continue, the Hon. Mr Hood.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Thank you for your protection, sir. It's quite intimidating. This was, as you recall, sir, opposed by the then Labor opposition. My questions to the industrial relations minister are as follows.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Firstly, how many South Australian workers missed out on the opportunity to work on the Queen's Birthday public holiday and thus suffered a decline in their living standards and their income as a result?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Bonaros, that's out of character.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Secondly—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: —what could the minister possibly say to those workers who would have appreciated the extra income in a climate of rising interest rates, power prices, fuel costs and other increased living expenses that contribute to a higher cost of living?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will tell you what I would say to the workers who are working on a public holiday: you get penalty rates because it's a public holiday. You are rewarded for working on a public holiday. You receive penalty rates for doing that because you are giving up time that many others spend with their family. We think workers deserve those penalty rates on public holidays. That is our very, very strong view, our very, very strong—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Ms Bourke! Continue.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: We support the payment of penalty rates on public holidays very strongly, but we also support a sensible balance allowing families to have time together on days of the year that are public holidays. We don't support what the former government did. We don't support what the former government did, usurping the legislation that they failed on numerous occasions to change.

It was a recurring theme of the former government. They failed. They failed on numerous occasions to change shop trading laws, and do you know how many people voted for that, except the Liberal Party, in this chamber? None, not a single person. It was just the Liberal Party who wanted to try to have an absolute carte blanche free-for-all that would force many people not to spend time with their families but work on public holidays and all hours of the day with complete deregulation of shop trading hours.

We don't support that and, what's more, we had a proposal to allow an extra two hours on Sunday morning. The Liberal Party didn't support that. There is one party here that didn't support extended shop trading hours and that's the Liberal Party. I can't remember—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I did see a couple of years ago an article in I think it was The Advertiser. It was I think a hospitality venue who talked about the fact that they had to pay penalty rates on a public holiday, bemoaning that and saying, with these extra costs they wouldn't be making very much profit at all and it's probably not worth giving up time with their family on a public holiday to open. That's the exact point. Even business owners want to make that decision. They want to spend time with their family on a public holiday. We don't support the carte blanche approach the former government took and wanted to take. We support a sensible balance and that's what we are going to do in government.