Page 4141 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 21 September 2011
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now trying to back-pedal as the serious implications of that flawed policy become apparent.
We look forward to inquiring into this policy—how it was established, how it is being implemented and how we can now fix the mess that the Labor Party and the Greens have together created.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.44): The government will not be supporting this motion today. The motion is confused, incredibly complex and lacking a clear focus as to the way forward on this important issue of providing for competition in the retail supermarket sector, a sector which is dominated by large operators, operators in a monopoly or geopoly environment and one which is not to the great benefit of all Canberrans.
The government is committed to continuing to review and improve its policy settings around supermarket policy. My colleague Mr Barr will be talking more about this in coming days. But I think we have to recognise that there is a complex interaction between planning policy and competition policy because in the ACT, with the development of a clear retail hierarchy, as it has been known, the allocation of land for uses and the variety of opportunities that that presents for a competitive environment has created a situation which is perhaps unique in Australia.
That said, the efficient and equitable provision of retail goods and services to the community has been and continues to be an important principle in Canberra’s planning. With efficiency, planning must encourage competition to obtain lower prices for goods and services, provide a system that accommodates change and seeks to ensure the best use of public and private funds. With regard to accessibility and equity, it is necessary to provide retail facilities at various locations that are convenient and easy to get to. In the context of sustainability and amenity, it must also support the development of an urban pattern that reduces the overall need for journeys or makes those journeys short and convenient and also ensures that they are safe, attractive and comfortable and that the centres themselves have these characteristics.
What we are also conscious of is that, since the ACT’s retail hierarchy was first entrenched, effectively in the planning of the city in the 1950s and 1960s, a lot has changed in terms of retail. We used to have restricted shopping hours, no Sunday trading and no late night trading. All of those things have changed. We now have long retail trading hours, effectively 24/7. We have increased the labour force with a much greater participation of women in the labour market. This means that that segment of our community that was perhaps more traditionally viewed as being the segment that could have had the time and the opportunity to shop at a local centre no longer has because they work.
The growth of e-commerce has changed the way people get goods and services delivered to them. As a consequence, there has been a decline of trade and market share from both small convenience centres and department stores as people go towards larger centres with the convenience that comes from one visit to meet all of
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