Hide Rodney: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act (Abolition of Restrictions) Amendment Bill — Consideration of Report of Commerce Committee 
Hide Rodney: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act (Abolition of Restrictions) Amendment Bill — Consideration of Report of Commerce Committee 
[Volume:616;Page:11971] 
RODNEY HIDE (ACT) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of the report of the Commerce Committee on the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act (Abolition of Restrictions) Amendment Bill 
. We are currently in the forty-seventh Parliament of New Zealand. This bill first came before the House in the forty-fifth Parliament. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Last century! 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Yes last century which in parliamentary terms is a very long time ago. It was introduced by our colleague Mrs Patricia Schnauer and it has had a long and winding history through the House. In fact it will be the only bill ever passed in the history of the New Zealand Parliament that will have two Committee stages in this House. That is quite extraordinary given the modest change it makes to our shop-trading hours. 
Before I go too far I would like to acknowledge Mr Mark Peck. I hope I will not do much damage to his career in the Labour Party. Without exception Mr Mark Peck is the finest chairperson I have ever served under in the select committee process. He has done a fine job generally in the Commerce Committee and on this bill in particular. 
We have a bill that will allow retailers to decide for themselves according to their customers’ wishes whether they open on Easter Sunday. That move is long overdue in New Zealand. What we have is arbitrary and does not make sense. It is subject to a lot of politicking and to a lot of very unfortunate policing activity by Department of Labour officials I guess going around snooping to see who might be buying a potplant—not the type the Greens go for because those are traded on Easter Sunday but a real potplant from the garden centre on an Easter Sunday. Everyone in New Zealand thinks it is a bit silly. 
I would have liked this bill to go a lot further and leave every day in New Zealand up to customers and to the shop owners who have their capital and livelihoods at risk. However it is fair to say that the best that we could do in our committee was to get Easter Sunday and leave it up to this Parliament to decide. I support that as a step in the right direction. 
In 2003 the Minister of Labour Margaret Wilson called on a working-group to look into shop-trading hours. The group released its report in June 2003 called  
Shop Trading Hours—Proposals for a Way Forward 
. It contained two options and states: “The two options proposed are founded on our assessment that Easter Sunday is the main focus for any change and on the need to balance the social community commercial and employee interests involved.” 
The committee supported the proposal of the working-group and agreed to focus on Easter Sunday trading. I have to say that it was not easy for the committee but it agreed and recommended an amendment to allow Easter Sunday trading across the board. The reason for that is that most of the current area exemptions relate to Easter Sunday trading and if we just removed that restriction we would alleviate most of the concerns about the differences between the areas. We tipped our hat to the Labour Party domination of the Commerce Committee and put protections in for employees and leaseholders so that they are suitably—in the Labour Party sense of the word—protected against compulsorily working or opening on Easter Sunday. 
I hope that Parliament will support this bill. It is a fair bill in terms of the interests that are reflected around this Parliament. What we have now is a law that is a bit of an ass looks a bit silly each Easter causes a lot of concern amongst retailers between one area and another and in an important way undermines the institution of Parliament. Quite frankly we have a law that is silly in this day and age. Paying civil servants double time to muck around on Easter Sunday taking notes and snooping to see who might have his or her shop open is not a very good idea. It does not reflect well on this Parliament. 
I should say that I do not think that anyone in this Parliament wants to dismiss or downgrade anyone’s religious views. We live in a society that is not overwhelmingly Christian but reflects a whole diversity of religious beliefs different cultures and different creeds. The important thing about that is not to legislate one religion over another or one view over another but to allow people the freedom to practice their religious beliefs. If people do not want to go shopping on a Saturday they do not have to go shopping on a Saturday. They do not have to open their shops on a Saturday. 
I see my friend Mr Tim Barnett here. When his bill goes through people will not even have to have a gay civil union. It will be up to the people concerned to choose how they live their lives and whom they partner with. We are not talking about making it compulsory that people open their shops on Easter Sunday. It is up to owners and whether their customers want it. Is that not the sort of New Zealand we want—a New Zealand that respects people’s religious beliefs how they choose to live their lives and allows them the freedom to choose? 
I commend this bill to the House. I thank my colleague Mr Mark Peck for his hard work and his very good ability at managing complex and conflicting views on a piece of legislation. As a chairman he is in many ways a model parliamentarian. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Much underrated by his party. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: He is much underrated by this Parliament generally. Would it not be nice thing for our retailers if Parliament were of a mind to make the change before this Easter? How silly it would be to have Parliament supporting this bill but not getting it passed before Easter—having the absurd situation of changing the law after Easter and again having Department of Labour officials running around fining retailers who open because we have not done the business and got this bill passed. If there is enthusiasm in this Parliament to support this bill I ask the Government whether we can bring it forward. Can we put it into the urgency motion and give some sanity to our Easter shop-trading hours? Again I thank members of Parliament for their support.