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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 90 ..

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (11.09): Mr Speaker, I present the Trading Hours (Repeal) Bill 1997.

Title read by Clerk.

MR WHITECROSS: I move:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

Mr Speaker, the Trading Hours (Repeal) Bill 1997 is an opportunity for the Government and this Assembly to have a second chance, to have a rethink about this poorly thought out, illogical, irrational trading hours policy. The Trading Hours Act 1996 restricts the hours of operation of large supermarkets in town centres. It is an ad hoc policy which is anti-competitive and interventionist. It is not based on any sound policy argument. It is about short-term solutions and is typical of the style of government that Mrs Carnell has brought to Canberra. It does not offer real solutions to what are, in fact, very real problems.

The policy has been in place since September and, as far as I and the Labor Party are concerned, that is long enough. The Government has not put up any hard evidence to support it continuing. In fact, the Government rushed the legislation through in the middle of the night and has since done as little as possible to defend it. The Government is hoping that the issue will simply go away. The people in the community are still voicing their dislike of the restrictive trading hours, and Labor will not let this issue disappear, because we feel strongly about it. Labor has listened to the community, and the community ferociously dislikes restricted trading hours. We promised the people of Canberra that we would repeal the legislation, and we are taking this opportunity to live up to that promise and to offer the Government and the Greens the opportunity to reconsider their position. Everyone should think long and hard about this. The Government has always said that this policy was not set in stone, and the Chief Minister said, "If it does not work we will change it; it is that simple". The Government has not had confidence in this policy from the beginning. Now is the Assembly's opportunity to reverse a bad and unpopular policy decision.

Mr Speaker, this policy has never enjoyed community support. The community wants the freedom to shop when and where it likes. Society has changed. People require flexibility in their lives, and extended trading hours is part of that flexibility. With increasing participation in full-time work, with shiftworkers, with people trying to mix work responsibilities with family responsibilities, the flexibility of extended trading hours is integral to people enjoying full and satisfying lives. That is a reality of life in the 1990s. Restricted trading hours simply restricts choice. Shopping at local stores restricts product choice. It costs more to shop at smaller, local supermarkets. A survey done using the standard basket of goods defined by the national prices network demonstrated that,

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