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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
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Shop Trading Hours

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. What is the minister doing to support primary producers who have raised concerns about the impact of deregulation of shop trading hours on their businesses? Respected primary producer, John Magarey from Coromandel Valley, says:

The Liberals' proposed deregulation of shop trading hours will unfairly benefit the big guys, like Coles and Woolies, at the expense of small family businesses. The big supermarkets' low prices don't give growers a fair return. This makes life hard for us and our greengrocer friends.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The Premier will be heard in silence. Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:30): We make it very clear who answers the questions on this side. This is an issue that I am dealing with, and I am dealing with it because it is very important. It is very important to the future of South Australia. Can I tell you that—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Can I make this point—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —unlike those opposite, I spend a lot of time in regional South Australia. In fact, last year I think I was on 28 separate regions matters tours, so I travelled the length and breadth of our fabulous state. I spoke to people who were always telling me, to a man and to a woman, that our economy has been sluggish here in South Australia. We went to the election saying that we would do everything we could to actually grow our economy not just in metropolitan Adelaide, not just in marginal seats, not just in seats like Croydon that the Leader of the Opposition lives in, but the reality is—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Well, you say that, but at the moment it's looking a bit dodgy. We are talking to every single person in this state. We do talk a lot to people in regional South Australia, and we make no apology for that. We make no apology for that. I heard after the 2014 election that some of those opposite—I won't name them—said that it was an error for us to spend so much time in regional South Australia and that what we should have been doing was running around the marginal seats in metropolitan Adelaide. I very proudly am the leader of a parliamentary party—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that is focused on regional South Australia. We see a lot of opportunity for growth, but we need to grow as an entire state, and deregulation is part of that agenda to grow the size of our economy. It seems incredible that those opposite would suggest that this would be a damaging act for regional South Australia because—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —the very clear reality is that our economy as a total will benefit. As I said in the answer the first time those opposite asked a question on deregulation today, not everybody agrees with us, but that doesn't mean that we should shy away from making tough decisions. That doesn't mean that we should just kick the can down the road because there will be some people who disagree with us.

The reality is that we are making this decision because we want to grow the size of our economy, and when we look at the other jurisdictions around Australia, where they have actually deregulated shop trading hours, they have seen their economies grow. They have seen more jobs being created, and that is a benefit for all South Australians, and that is why we will be supporting the progression of this bill through this parliament.

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