Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-06 Daily Xml

Contents

Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:50): A supplementary: will that condition include a provision that workers can't be penalised for not working on Boxing Day?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:50): The provision will be as I have explained it; that is, workers cannot be forced to work on Boxing Day. It is as simple as that. The essential argument that has been used is that workers might be forced to work against their wishes. I might say that I am intrigued as to why a worker in Marion is of greater concern to Labor members and the shoppies union than a worker in the Adelaide CBD or Mount Barker. Workers in the CBD and workers in Mount Barker also have families; the honourable member might find that surprising, but they also have families.

Part of the arrangement is that shops are allowed to open on Boxing Day in the CBD, in Mount Barker, in Victor Harbor and Mount Gambier. As I said, and for the edification of the honourable member, those workers also have families, so I am intrigued by the notion that the workers at Marion are in some way different to the workers in the Adelaide CBD. It might surprise the honourable member that a lot of the workers in the Adelaide CBD don't actually live in the CBD, they might actually live in Marion or some of the suburbs as well and they travel into the city to work.

This issue of whether workers are forced to work or traders are forced to trade is an existing issue in relation to the CBD, Mount Barker and virtually all of regional South Australia, with the potential exception of Millicent, so the challenge I put to Labor members, the shoppies union and others is: why do we have two classes of workers in South Australia? Why is there a class of workers who work in the CBD or Mount Barker who, from the Labor Party's viewpoint, have fewer rights or entitlements, if you listen to their argument, than a worker at Marion or Tea Tree Gully?

All we are saying is that it has actually worked pretty well in the CBD, it has worked pretty well in Mount Barker and Mount Gambier and Murray Bridge. We think it can work pretty well in Marion and Tea Tree Plaza and Colonnades and Munno Para.