THE State Government has renewed its campaign against South Australia’s “archaic” shop trading laws, with Treasurer Rob Lucas confirming it will again seek parliamentary support to deregulate the state’s retail hours.
Despite the proposed trading hour reforms already being voted down in parliament, Treasurer Lucas said the government will reintroduce a bill to remove the current restrictions on stores larger than 400 square metres.
Treasurer Lucas said while the specifics of the bill were yet to be determined, the government would likely reintroduce the same legislation which was defeated in the state’s upper house.
He said Millicent would not be exempt from the reform and if the bill is supported by a majority in both houses of parliament, Woolworths, Foster’s Foodland and Target Country would be able to open on Sundays and public holidays.
“There will be no exemptions because that is why we are in the mess we are in at the moment,” Treasurer Lucas said.
“People have not been in our view able to make what is a very sensible decision about when they can trade because of these laws.”
Woolworths has long supported the liberalisation of Millicent’s trading hours, but Foster’s Foodland and Millicent IGA are vehemently opposed to any changes.
Foster’s Foodland manager Dave Foster expressed disappointment the government was pushing ahead with its reform and said it made the store’s position insecure.
“We all know that one of the Millicent supermarkets would close under deregulation,” he said.
“We had held off doing renovations at our store until we knew the outcome of the last bill in parliament.
“We then went ahead, but because of this new push we are back to uncertainty.”
Millicent IGA owners Bill and Alistair Schuller also expressed frustration about the new move and said along with Land Tax changes, trading hour reform would negatively affect the George Street supermarket.
Treasurer Lucas was unable to confirm whether the reforms would be introduced in the upper house – where it was defeated with Labor, the Greens, SA-Best and independent John Darley voting it down – or in the lower house, Member for MacKillop Nick McBride sits.
Mr McBride pledged to continue to advocate for the community, but would not comment on whether he would vote against the bill in parliament.
Despite Mr Lucas indicating there would be no carve outs in the government’s proposed laws, Mr McBride said he would work through and negotiate in the party room “to get an acceptable outcome in Millicent”.
“The current legislation needs to be clarified,” Mr McBride said.
“I believe there are ways to improve the legislation while retaining an exemption in Millicent.”
Labor parliamentarian Clare Scriven said the Opposition would stand with Millicent’s retailers and residents to fight the changes.
“It is well known the deregulation of shop trading hours in Millicent would lead to one of three supermarkets closing,” she said.
“The Marshall Liberal Government has been warned that deregulating shop trading hours in Millicent will lead to stores closing and local job losses and yet they continue to push ahead with these plans.”
The South Eastern Times has contacted SA-Best and the Greens, who both indicate they remain opposed to deregulating shop trading hours in Millicent.
