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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-06 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Shop Trading Hours

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): My question is to the Premier. Is the Premier aware of warnings from South Australian small businesses, farmers, main street associations, independent retailers and produce markets that deregulation of shop trading hours will have an adverse impact on their businesses?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:07): I am aware that some businesses do not support the government's decision to push ahead with introducing legislation to deregulate shop trading hours, but we are not here, on this side of the house, to represent just a few people but the vast majority of all South Australians, and what we have done—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —on this side of the house is to actually consult with people about what will be in the best interests of all South Australians.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I know that those opposite just pick up the telephone, ring ring, 'Oh, it's the SDA, Yes, what are we doing today? Okay, thanks very much.' Click. 'That's our policy position.' Well, it's not like that on this side of the house. On this side of the house, we are here to govern on behalf all South Australians—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and what we know is that we want to grow our economy. We want to grow jobs in South Australia. We want to keep young people here in South Australia, and that's why we have made a decision—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to do everything we can to put policies in place that will do precisely that. I am quite aware that not everybody likes this, and we have seen all sorts of reasons offered by those opposite as to why this isn't a good way to go. For example, they say that this is going to destroy all businesses, yet they haven't been able to give us any explanation as to why it hasn't destroyed all businesses, for example, in Mount Gambier.

We have had deregulation of shop trading hours in Mount Gambier for a couple of decades. Guess what? Businesses have still survived. They still can't explain to the people of South Australia why we have full deregulation in Mount Barker, but you drive a couple of kilometres down the road to Stirling and, 'No, you can't make your decision as to when to open and when to close your shop. The union movement, the government needs to be responsible for setting these times.' We don't believe that whatsoever. The reality is that deregulation of shop trading hours—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —will create more jobs in South Australia, it will grow our economy and, more than that, it is wanted by the vast majority of South Australians. The Leader of the Opposition—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be heard in silence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —offered to this house a few weeks ago, when he sat in that seat for the very first time—hopefully, he gets to do four years in that task. I'm not sure the member for Lee agrees with—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated for one moment, please.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I will listen to the point of order.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The Premier is debating the answer.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is debate. In responding to that point of order, whilst the Premier may be straying in his answer, he had a cacophony of noise before that. Whilst the Premier is entitled to some preamble, I do ask him to please return to the substance of the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The point I was making is that we have been out talking to the people of South Australia. I was just making the point to you, sir—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —was that the Leader of the Opposition, when he came into this role, said he would go out and talk to people in 47 electorates as if this was some sort of revelation. He had discovered there were more than just those in metropolitan Adelaide with a margin below 5 per cent. The reality is the people of South Australia spoke. They spoke at the election. What they said was that they want an economy that is growing. They want jobs for the next generation, and they voted for the Liberal Party to be in government.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader for any questions, I call to order the following members: the member for West Torrens, the leader and the deputy leader, and I warn the deputy leader.

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