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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-22 Daily Xml
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SHOP TRADING HOURS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations a question on shop trading hours.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The minister announced that he would allow shop trading on Easter Tuesday, a public holiday, in 2011. Shop Distributed and Allied Employees Association State Secretary, Peter Malinauskas, is reported as having said that the union has won guarantees from major retailers that no member would be forced to work against their will. He said:

Our position as a principle is that stores shouldn't be trading on public holidays...But we acknowledge that there was a special circumstance that presented itself this Easter.

The minister is reported as having told The Advertiser:

It's not a precedent or anything like that. It's just a very special or unusual circumstance when you have ANZAC Day abutting Easter.

The Rann government's position, apparently, is not about the special nature of ANZAC Day or Easter. The government allowed shops to open on ANZAC Day in 2010, which was a Sunday. I ask the minister:

1. Was the guarantee given to the SDA significant in the minister's decision to allow trading on Easter Tuesday?

2. Does the guarantee apply to non-union members, and, if so, what will the government do to uphold the guarantee for those workers?

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Gambling) (14:40): I thank the Hon. Mr Wade for his question. This year, for the first time, ANZAC Day will coincide with Easter Monday. This is an exceptional situation which, I believe, will not occur again until 2095 and, as such, requires special arrangements to ensure that the community is able to recognise the significance of both public holidays.

To preserve the importance of 25 April as ANZAC Day, the government proclaimed a special public holiday on 26 April, creating an extended five-day Easter weekend. The additional Easter Tuesday public holiday would result in shops being closed for an extended period over Easter this year. Given these unusual circumstances, the government has decided that special arrangements will apply to trading hours on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 April.

As has been the case in previous years, larger stores will again remain closed on ANZAC Day, and I have issued a closure notice that requires partially exempt stores to also remain closed until 12 noon. This ensure that marches and ceremonies remain the focus of attention on the morning of ANZAC Day. The government will also ask that smaller retailers that have exemptions under the act remain closed until midday to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to properly honour those who have served our nation.

As shops would generally be required to close for ANZAC Day if it fell on a different day, this arrangement does not reduce the number of days that shops are required to close. However, to ensure the right balance for the general public, traders and retail employees, I will be allowing city stores to seek an exemption to trade on Tuesday 26 April. This will allow retailers within the CBD to trade between 11am and 5pm on the Easter Tuesday.

Normal public holiday trading restrictions will apply to the remainder of the Easter long weekend, including on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Shops in the metropolitan area will be able to trade as usual until 5pm on Saturday 23 April, as this day remains unaffected.

The government has a proven record of striking a fair balance between choices for retailers and consumers while protecting workers and their families from fully deregulated trading hours. This includes the flexibility to make arrangements, as necessary, to cater for exceptional events.

As members may recall, I recently allowed exemptions in relation to the visit of cruise ships, which enabled some trading on Sunday morning in Rundle Mall. I also approved an exemption request from Target Australia to allow Target Centrepoint to trade some additional hours during the Clipsal 500 weekend just gone.

This indicates that we have the right legislation and the right balance, which enables us to make exceptions for particular, unusual or specific circumstances, and the coinciding of ANZAC Day and the Easter weekend is certainly one of those. In relation to the SDA and what guarantees they have sought from retailers, that is a question for them.

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