Wong Pansy: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
Wong Pansy: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4438] 
PANSY WONG (NZ National) 
: 
 That member is another frustrated Labour member of Parliament. My heart goes out to her. I am glad the Hon Margaret Wilson is sitting in the House listening to her colleague pleading because the Minister has failed to deliver. She promised so many times to introduce to this House a sensible solution and reform of the outdated shop trading hours. Alongside John Tamihere Steve Chadwick is another frustrated Labour member of Parliament. 
It is a privilege for me to be the New Zealand National Party’s tourism spokesperson. In 1991 the National Government set up the New Zealand Tourism Board to support the tourism industry and we witnessed continuing tourism growth until today. Yesterday Tourism New Zealand welcomed the news that international visitors spent an estimated NZ$6 billion in New Zealand for the year 2002. This figure demonstrates the importance of tourism to the New Zealand economy. It has been contributing an increasing amount to our country’s foreign exchange earnings. 
More important I would like to tell the public that 60 percent of total visitors in New Zealand are ourselves Kiwis enjoying a holiday in our own country. Annually now throughout New Zealand we receive over 2 million overseas visitors and many more of our own people are visiting each other’s region. How many cities and regions in New Zealand will say nowadays they have nothing to do with tourism? Practically none. 
I have difficulty with the member for Rotorua—even though she is well meaning—saying that Rotorua should be singled out for an exemption because it is a tourism centre. New Zealand as a whole is a destination for international visitors. We learn that the Commerce Committee heard from one of the submitters Hanmer Springs—a fantastic little town in Canterbury—that it is also a vital part of the tourism industry. I agree and it should be granted the same exemption. Therefore it does not make sense for this House to endorse a piece of legislation that would allow retailers in a specific area to open on Easter Sunday on the ground that that area is a tourism centre. I would argue that New Zealand as a whole is a tourism destination. 
Business and tourism operators in Rotorua should take issue with their member of Parliament Steve Chadwick and have her work harder to try to convince her Minister the Hon Margaret Wilson that it is about time for her to bring sensible legislation to this House to allow business throughout New Zealand and employers and employees to choose whether they want to trade and work on Easter Sunday. This House cannot afford to pass this piecemeal legislation and to return to the bad old days where politicians would even decide the price of bread or where individuals could go to watch a movie—because movie theatres were allowed to be situated only on a certain corner in a certain street—or what import licences would be issued and therefore what New Zealanders were allowed to buy. It led to favouritism and it gave politicians the power. They did not trust the people to make those choices for themselves. 
It would certainly create a lot of unnecessary workload for this House. I can just see politicians on all sides of the House lining up telling their retailers and business people that they are going to champion a local bill for them to gain an exemption on the ground that they are a tourism centre. Indeed we have learnt from the Commerce Committee report—even though it refrains from making a recommendation—that in the committee’s point of view this area of shop trading hours legislation is already full of confusion and the legislation itself is outdated and in need of reform. The committee actually says—including I presume the member Steve Chadwick—that to pass this law is to add to “an already muddled area”. The Commerce Committee even though it refrained from making a recommendation has pointed out that the passage of this law would just add confusion to an already muddled area. 
There is also now we have been told another working-party being set up to look into this issue. If we pass this legislation it will undermine the working-party. What is the point of the working-party carrying on its review? If this legislation is passed we are simply inviting all members of Parliament to bring their local bill to this House. We should then invite the Minister to disband the working-party. Anyway I cannot say from past experience that the working-party might yield any tangible results. 
Apart from the above reasons I would ask members on all sides to consider very carefully before they vote on this legislation. I invite them to reject this legislation. Only by rejecting this legislation can we put pressure on the Minister to bring in sensible changes to the shop trading hours that will enable businesses employers and employees to make their own choices. 
I want to comment on and protest about the process of this legislation and other pieces of legislation relating to shop trading hours. In 1998 the ACT party had a member’s bill proposing drastic reform to the shop trading hours. That bill was referred to the Justice and Law Reform Committee in 1998. Over 100 submitters made written submissions. In 1999 when Labour came into power the bill was referred to the Commerce Committee and Labour members on that committee refused to hear submissions or to receive submitters. Over 100 submitters were not allowed the opportunity to comment on the shop trading hours reform bill. That bill was discharged in the House and was referred back to the select committee because the Greens had decided that garden centres should receive special dispensation from the bill. Since then shop trading hours remain an issue that is not resolved despite the numerous promises made by the Minister that she was about to bring legislation into the House that would enable members to debate the issues properly and logically. 
Once again I tell all members of the House that this legislation is a very bad example of our returning to the bad old days when politicians would bring piecemeal legislation to Parliament that would congest the workload but not achieve a lot during the process. I firmly believe that all businesses employers and employees in New Zealand should have the freedom to decide whether they trade on Easter Sunday.