Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9313] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Otago) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill in the name of Steve Chadwick. I am very pleased to support this bill. I will start by answering Peter Brown’s contention that this bill will bring a standardisation of the Easter trading legislation. Alas it will not and that is because of the mechanism that it proposes to use which is to devolve the decision-making process down to local government. My one fear with regard to this bill is that we will end up with an expensive lengthy contentious debate that will split communities. I know that small communities will be split over this measure—as this House has been—and we will get different decisions in different areas. But having said that I still support the bill because I believe that although the issue of Easter trading is extremely contentious we do need to make progress on it. 
I am acutely aware that here we have another member attempting—in a long line of members of Parliament who have attempted—to seek reform of the legislation around Easter trading and to bring some sense into the situation whereby retailers are prosecuted every year for opening their doors on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The arguments have not changed much either—whether it is about a freedom to trade a choice of when to open the doors for business or the bringing of employment and economic benefits versus the concerns about the acknowledgment of a religious festival the preservation of family life or the protection of workers. Each argument for or against the liberalisation of Easter trading has its merits and each argument needs to be taken into account when making legislation. But we do have a persistent call for liberalisation and we have to deal with that. 
I support this bill because the Wanaka Chamber of Commerce has asked me to help it. Steve Chadwick is representing the interests of Rotorua. Many chambers of commerce and retailers associations are keen to see this matter settled so that they can get on with business without the annoyance of the annual Easter trading round of prosecutions. 
I acknowledge the work put in by all members of the Commerce Committee when considering both bills the Dean bill and the Chadwick bill on Easter trading. It was acknowledged by us that notwithstanding all the many objections the retail sector and many members of society are looking to us for leadership and for a solution to the anomalous situation we have now in the Easter trading legislation. I also acknowledge the large number of submitters who took the time to write and to speak to their submissions. I thank them for the high-quality and well-reasoned suggestions for a way forward. 
I received a letter 2 days ago signed by 21 people who wanted me to know their feelings on the Easter trading legislation. I acknowledge that for some people Easter trading is incompatible with the celebration of their faith. I acknowledge that some people feel that working over Easter cuts into family life. I argue that no one is forced to go shopping and no one is forced to work over Easter. Most letters to me have been reasonable but some have not. I have had two personally abusive letters from people who purport to be men of God. To me that is not acceptable. I do not think this issue is important enough for that to be done. 
Several unions are concerned about the issue of worker protection. Amendments to this bill and to the Dean bill at the Commerce Committee have resulted in several changes. I repeat that no one can be forced to work over Easter. There can be no penalty for declining or refusing to work. Retail workers have 11 statutory holidays and 4 weeks’ annual leave. To me it is nonsense to contend that having to work over Easter will ruin family life. I also note that many retail workers are young and work part-time. They value the extra hours work and the opportunity to earn extra money. I asked many retailers in Wanaka about that during the submission process and they told me that they have no trouble in finding people to work over Easter. 
A number of historical privileges add to the anomalies and inherent unfairness of the shop trading hours legislation as it stands. For example Picton and Queenstown have exemptions carried over from the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act 1990. Businesses in both those towns can trade on Good Friday from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. with no other restrictions. How even-handed is that? Those historical privileges exist for shops in Picton on Good Friday and Easter Sunday in Queenstown on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and in Taupo for Easter Sunday only but they do not exist for other similar tourist areas such as Rotorua or Wanaka. In other words it is a legislative dog’s breakfast and an uneven playing field. We already have Good Friday and Easter Sunday trading but just not on a fair basis. 
I want to turn to some changes I propose to this bill. I want to signal a change to the bill that I will introduce as a Supplementary Order Paper at the Committee stage should the bill pass this second reading. I propose that the legislation enable a territorial authority to decide whether shops in its district may remain open on Good Friday if a significant event is to occur in the district on that day. I define a significant event as one attended by a significant number of people including people from outside the district—that is the key to it—and one that brings economic benefit to the district. I believe that the amendment I plan to introduce is a practical pragmatic solution meaning that only those districts like Wanaka where the Warbirds over Wanaka event is held every second year would be interested in applying for an exemption to trade on Good Friday. If Rotorua or Tauranga for example were planning a major event for the Easter weekend and if the chamber of commerce or a retail group supported it that body could apply to the city council for an exemption to allow trading on Good Friday. That exemption would affect that district only on that day in that year. Wanaka would apply for an exemption only every second year for the year that Warbirds over Wanaka is held. 
It became obvious during the hearing of submissions on Easter trading that there was broad support for the liberalisation of trading on Easter Sunday. But there was not the same level of support for trading on Good Friday although a number of submitters did indicate support for it. Some solution needs to be found if we as a Parliament want to be seen as credible. There was a strong call from many submitters and members of the public for a general exemption for Easter Sunday trading. By far the greatest number of submitters who supported both bills supported a New Zealand - wide exemption. That is why a general exemption by way of a schedule naming each territorial authority is the most efficient measure to adopt. 
To devolve the decision making to the territorial authority will mean as I started to say at the beginning of my speech different rules for each district. That I think is the flaw in the Chadwick bill. But I support this bill because I believe we now have the opportunity in Parliament to get this matter right. I urge members of the House to support the bill.