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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-10 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

TRADING HOURS

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:01): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just on a year ago this parliament passed a legislative package to open up our central business district to public holiday shop trading on all but Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning, and to provide for two part-day public holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The legislation was a balance to provide for vibrancy in the city centre, quieter neighbourhoods, strong local businesses and protection of those special times to share with friends and families.

The legislation required that the impact of the changes to the Holidays Act 1910 and the Shop Trading Act 1977 be reviewed. The government commissioned the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies to undertake these reviews. The reviews have been completed. The Review of Changes to Shop Trading Hours confirmed what we have known for a while—the opening up of the city to shop trading on public holidays has been wildly popular.

It found that on public holidays between 60,000 and 120,000 visitors came to the city and people spent $58 million in the Rundle Mall precinct. It found strong evidence that opening up the city to shop trading on public holidays contributed to vibrancy in the city. Independently, advice we have received from the Rundle Mall Management Authority is that 58 percent of Rundle Mall traders said that Boxing Day 2012 was their biggest trading day of the year and that 64 per cent of Rundle Mall traders said their performance improved in 2012 due to public holiday trading.

The review of changes to the Holidays Act shows that there were costs to businesses of the part-day public holidays but, it seems, far lower than what was predicted by some in the business community. The Restaurant and Catering Association of South Australia estimated that these changes would cost about $11 million.

The review found the cost impact to be a tenth of that—about $1 million, or about $540 per restaurant per night. The review found costs to the hotel industry of about $230 per hotel in the context of an average annual profit of $250,000 per hotel. The review found inconsistent data about restaurant closures on the part-day public holidays, with estimates of closures fluctuating wildly between 6 and 40 per cent.

However, the review found no evidence of any substantial disruption to the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve plans of consumers. Critically, the review shows that there is strong community support for the part-day public holidays. The survey commissioned by the review revealed that Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve were regarded as significant to more respondents than many of our more established public holidays.

The survey showed overwhelming support for people working these nights getting paid penalty rates and having the ability to refuse to work on those nights. Seventy-eight per cent of people surveyed supported penalty rates and 74 per cent supported the right to refuse work. The reviews show the balanced package we achieved for South Australians was the right one. It opens up the city on public holidays, preserves our quiet neighbourhoods on those days, and properly recognises that Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are special times for families and friends.

So, it is good for shoppers, good for city retailers, good for the vibrancy of the city, and good for working families. I know that the Leader of the Opposition has described the legislation as a 'pig of a deal' and 'a massive and unnecessary cost to business', but now we have this evidence of its success I call on him to make clear his commitment to these arrangements and rule out removing penalty rates on the new public holidays.

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