TREASURER Rob Lucas has pledged to continue to campaign against the state’s “archaic, confusing and shambolic” shop trading laws despite last week’s overwhelming upper house defeat.
The senior Liberal labelled the blocking of the legislation as a “tragedy”, but said it marked the start of a relentless and ongoing campaign to deregulate retail hours across the state.
Mr Lucas used his hour-long parliamentary speech to rebuke arguments made by the Opposition and the crossbench, including comments made by the Greens slamming SafeWork SA for focusing on floor space ahead of workplace safety.
He told the Legislative Council there was a “very small group” within the department responsible for administering retail hours, while a larger group existed for compliance and safety.
In his address, Mr Lucas lambasted the Labor Party for demonising “anyone who is not an independent retailer in South Australia”, saying the legislation aimed to provide consumers with choice.
He blamed the state’s Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA), of which State Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas formerly served as secretary, for dictating to the Labor Party on the issue.
“The South Australian Liberal government is standing up for the little people – the consumers who are struggling to make ends meet, the consumers who want cheap grocery prices and the consumers who are struggling to feed their children,” Mr Lucas said.
“The struggling families who might want to see cheaper grocery bills every week have to put that aside because the new bosses in the shoppies union have told the old boss of the shoppies union that he and the Labor Party are not allowed to support any further reform in relation to shop trading hours.”
Mr Lucas also struck out at the Labor Party’s “hypocrisy in relation in country areas in relation to the Millicent debate”.
“Because some independent retailers had been trading unlawfully for 10 or 15 years or more on Sundays, the Labor government presided over the abolition of 32 of the proclaimed shopping districts in regional South Australia,” he said.
“It was the Labor Party and a Labor minister, John Rau, who led the charge in the abolition of 32 of the then proclaimed shopping districts which restricted trading hours in a similar fashion to Millicent.
“Labor governments, as I indicated there, on a number of occasions have introduced greater freedom of choice in relation to shop trading hours and former Liberal governments have done the same.”
Business SA director industry and government engagement Anthony Penney expressed disappointment with the defeat, saying opponents of deregulation failed to acknowledge traders would not have been forced to open.
The state’s peak chamber of commerce said the Labor Opposition and crossbenchers had failed to listen to a majority of consumers who supported choice and had instead put their faith in a small group of opposing retailers and unions.
“The Opposition has said retail workers deserve time off to spend with their families and friends on public holidays and weekends, but they have failed to see the job creation opportunities and economic benefits,” Mr Penney said.
“The Institute for Choice research showed 30pc would apply for a job in retail if shops were open longer, 35pc said they would shop more frequently and 30pc said they would shop more.
“How can we grow the economy if consumers cannot support local traders when they are closed?”
However, South Australian Independent Retailers chief executive Colin Shearing rejected Mr Penney’s comments, saying extended opening hours did not equate to greater consumption.
“The community needs to know that 80pc of retailers across South Australia can trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he said.
“Why do not they open? Because there is no demand.
“When it comes to the crunch, you are not going to have hundreds of thousands of people do a full shop at 10 at night.
“This is just an anti-small business piece of legislation which to independent retailers was very, very dangerous.
“It is just breathtaking that a Liberal Government whose premiere constituents are small businesses had lost touch with the small business.”
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) was contacted for comment.
