Peck Mark: Shop Trading Hours (Easter Trading Local Exemption) Bill — First Reading 
Peck Mark: Shop Trading Hours (Easter Trading Local Exemption) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:620;Page:15498] 
MARK PECK (Labour—Invercargill) 
: 
 I tell the member who preceded me that I will vote for the bill. I must say that his explanation of what is in the bill is not right. For instance there is no protection for those workers who do not wish to work; neither is there any protection for those leaseholders who do not wish to open on the day to have the protection of not opening. The third thing I want to say to the member before I go on with the issues in the bill is that I do believe he has selected the wrong select committee. The Commerce Committee dealt with the previous shop trading hours legislation and despite my assessment that the majority of the select committee were opposed to the legislation reported back a bill that subsequently was defeated in the House at its second reading but the committee reported it back with significant amendments that tidied up those particular matters. 
I congratulate Doug Woolerton on the work that he has done in putting the bill together because it is a debate that we need to have. I do know that New Zealand First was particularly keen on this matter because it was raised by the New Zealand First member on the Commerce Committee at the time we dealt with the previous legislation. We were unable to include in that bill the possibility that if the House was unhappy with there being a blanket opening of shops on Easter Sunday local authorities could have the say simply because it was not within the scope of the bill to do so. Rodney Hide who was the sponsor of that particular bill knows the debate that we had in some detail. This is a perfect fall-back position to give the House an opportunity to have some further discussion and some say as to whether there should be trading on Easter Sunday. 
Maybe I could highlight what I think is the anomaly and it has been raised with me by the member for Rotorua on many occasions and it is that Taupo shops can open on Easter Sunday and Rotorua shops cannot. If one is a shop owner in Rotorua and one wishes to open then one misses out. That simply defies logic. 
Rodney Hide 
: The member sounds more and more like a libertarian. 
MARK PECK 
: The member cannot assume that I subscribe to that form of politics. However I do accept the inevitable that this particular issue will eventually get a positive hearing by the House. It may take some time. But one of the things I know having been a shop assistant—and I happen to be one of the last shop assistants who went on strike to stop shops opening on a Saturday—is that when the tide is coming in we cannot stop it. I visited a place on the south coast of England—a place called Botham or something like that—where King Canute put the chair in the sand and said to the tide: “Come in no further.” Anybody who has been there will know that the tide rises about six metres there. Indeed there is a road just above the beach and when the tide really comes in it goes across the road so poor old King Canute got a right royal dunking. 
I know that on this particular issue people will eventually reach the stage where they will simply refuse to observe the law. If we as a Parliament allow that to happen without building in the necessary protections for employees who do not want to work on the day or for those people who run businesses who do not want to open on the day who do not particularly worry about the competition or have religious objection to opening on the day then I think we do people a disservice. What will occur is that by custom and practice this will happen around the country. Then nobody will have a say as to whether they have any protections in those situations. It is much better that we deal with it. 
I say to the member who preceded me in this particular debate that the Commerce Committee is the place to send this legislation not only from the point of view that the Commerce Committee dealt with the previous shop trading hours legislation but that it can deal with it quickly. I do not think that there is much of a need to have a round of submissions on this occasion. There has been a ministerial inquiry. There were copious submissions on the previous bill moved by Rodney Hide and also on the issue of local authorities being able to have their own say on whether shops would open. We have the evidence in front of us that would allow the select committee to do a quick job on tidying up this legislation and getting it back to the House. If it is the member’s wish that this particular matter is dealt with in time to come into force before Easter 2005 then I suggest to him that the Commerce Committee is the logical committee to send this legislation to. 
Having said all that and having said I will vote for the bill I also do not want to belittle the argument of those who are concerned about the thin end of the wedge. There are certain days within the calendar year that certainly are sacrosanct. One thing I can never see this House doing is agreeing to shops opening on Christmas Day. I can never see this House agreeing to shops opening on Anzac Day the half day on which we remember our service personnel. Neither can I see the House making any significant progress if it does not honour the wishes of those who would seek not to work or not to open their shops on Easter Sunday. And that will be the attention. Many employers who will want to open on that day will want to be able to say to their workers to come to work. I am sorry but if those employers want the luxury of being able to open their shops if the local authority decides it is useful for this to happen in their particular area then they will have to accept some checks and balances as to what they can or cannot require employees to do. 
I am sure that they will find the staff who will be prepared to work. I am sure that the vast majority of those employed in an enterprise will work. But that genuine opportunity not to work has to be offered to the employees and protections need to be built around that. Some of us would say that some penalty rates should probably be built in to make it a disincentive to employ workers other than the ones who are needed to work on the day to supply the services that tourists demand. 
I hear the member chortling in the aisles opposite. This is probably the one point that he and I do not agree on. Having said that it works as a reasonable disincentive and means that sufficient staff are there to do the work that is necessary to service the tourists but also makes sure that those who are prepared to work on the day get adequately compensated. Those are all issues that I am sure the select committee can get its head around reasonably quickly. 
The member having moved his resolution is in a bit of a dilemma. I know that the member cannot change his resolution once he has moved it. It may well take an amendment or the leave of the House; I do not know. I found myself in this particular dilemma when I moved legislation recently. I moved that it be referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. It took quite a little bit of fancy footwork to work it out. I suggest to the member that if he is serious about progressing the legislation and if he agrees with the point I have raised he take some advice now as to how he can tidy up his resolution. I am certain that if there is a willingness to give this bill a first reading it would probably be in the House’s best interests to refer it to the Commerce Committee which is not overly taxed with work at the moment. The Local Government and Environment Committee has a heck of a lot of business on its agenda just now. But it is not just that. The Commerce Committee has the expertise in the area and it is a committee that can consider the bill quickly and probably do so without needing to go to any significant round of seeking submissions. I will certainly be voting for the bill. I know many of my colleagues will not be but that is the nature of a personal vote. I look forward to the debate on this bill as it develops in the House.