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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-12 Daily Xml
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Shop Trading Hours

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Treasurer regarding shop trading hours.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: In 2017, the town of Millicent undertook a referendum of its 5,000 citizens, conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission, relating to the deregulation of shop trading hours in the town. The result was nearly 80 per cent support in favour of regulated shopping hours in the town. This was an increase in support compared to a similar referendum a few years earlier. My question to the minister is: what does the Treasurer have to say to the people of Millicent whose voices he is ignoring with his constant attempts to force the complete deregulation of shopping hours?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:21): I say to the very good—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: The good people of Millicent.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I say to the very good people of Millicent the same thing I have been saying to them for many years: I love them and respect them.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Exactly.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: They were a good football opponent when I was tied up with the fabulous East Gambier Football Club, almost 100 years ago. I broke the only bone in my body, a collarbone, on the Millicent football ground, but I don't hold that against the good people of Millicent at all. My views in relation to shop trading hours—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The opposition might like to listen to the answer.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: My views in relation to shop trading hours to the good people of Millicent are exactly the same as the views I have been expressing for the last three years or so. I might remind the Hon. Ms Scriven that the good people of Millicent ask me every year to use my ministerial powers of exemption to allow them to trade on days when they are not allowed to trade under the referendum proposal that they supported. Every year, they seek special dispensation from me to allow them—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: Not for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year they don't.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: No, they seek special dispensation from me, and they say, 'Please, minister'—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: 'Please, minister, will you allow me to trade'—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —'on these particular days when the current laws don't allow us to trade?'

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is out of order and so is the deputy leader.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: My recollection is that—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Chuck them out!

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway is not helping me.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —each year in relation to Easter Saturday trading—there is also a special festival that the Hon. Ms Scriven might be able to remember the name of; it starts with a G, even though I can't remember it now. Every year they—

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: I am not going to help you.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: You can't help me. It's the G festival and every year they ask me for special dispensation to allow them to trade on that particular day, or around that particular day, to celebrate the festival, because their current laws don't allow them to do so. And being the generous, cooperative self I am, not being vindictive, I allow them to get a special ministerial exemption to trade on those days on which the current laws don't allow them to trade.

I understand their views. We just happen to have a healthy disagreement in relation to the shop trading laws as they relate to suburban Adelaide but also the township of Millicent, as one of the very few proclaimed shopping districts still left in South Australia. I respect their views, I love the people dearly, but I just happen to respectfully disagree with them on this particular issue.

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