Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3471. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 I move  
That the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate the Commerce Committee to consider this bill should it by some miracle make it through the first reading. Amendments to the Shop Trading Hours Act have been controversial since indeed the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act of 1990 which removed trading restrictions except for Christmas Day Good Friday Easter Sunday and before 1 p.m. on Anzac Day. Exemptions were provided for shops selling certain types of goods as well as for shops in specified places. However there is now no legislative ability to grant further exemptions—and that is the problem. Easter trading is just such a contentious issue and any proposed change always gives rise to questions about how to strike a balance between the interests of businesses and the interests of employees alongside public recognition of religious activities. The intention of this bill the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill is to provide the balance between choice for employers to conduct business protections for employees and of course community interest. 
 This is a member’s bill. This is a members’ day. This is the Waitaki electorate’s bill. It is just trying to fix an anomaly that exists between Queenstown and Wanaka where Queenstown can open over Easter but Wanaka cannot. It is however not a local bill so it is not confined to Queenstown and Wanaka. It had to be a member’s bill so I have chosen to make this a Waitaki District Council bill. So there is a secondary benefit contained within this bill. Not only would it overcome the anomaly that exists between Queenstown and Wanaka two important tourism centres for the New Zealand economy but there is a secondary benefit there because there are shops in other local authority areas contained with the Waitaki electorate that could also open over Easter if they chose to. So maybe the retailers in Geraldine might choose to open over Easter because it is on a major tourist route. Maybe in Oamaru there are shops that may choose to open and trade over Easter because that is on an emerging and developing tourism route. Hey maybe Cromwell—in fact I am sure there are businesses in Cromwell that would choose to open over Easter if they had the ability to do so. I could go through all the tourist towns in my electorate and name them. There are many that if this bill passed might choose to open over Easter if they had the ability to do so.  
I bring this issue to Parliament because the Wanaka retailers have asked me to do it. 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Oh so what? 
JACQUI DEAN 
: The member opposite says “So what?”. Maybe that speaks volumes about— 
Simon O’Connor 
: Because they’re listening. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: Yeah well—maybe that speaks volumes about why this amendment should go through. This amendment should go through because commerce over Easter is actually very important to towns like Wanaka. And I will tell that member—who lives somewhere in the North Island if I am correct—why. Wanaka over Easter is the most marvellous place. Every second year we host the Warbirds over Wanaka International Air Show and so— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Where’s the evidence that more money will be spent? 
JACQUI DEAN 
: Evidence. Thank you. The member the doubter opposite is asking me for the evidence. If he does me the courtesy of listening I will tell him. Every second year in Wanaka we have Warbirds over Wanaka where up to 100000 people descend on Central Otago—so that is Wanaka Queenstown Cromwell Alexandra even Ranfurly—to attend Warbirds over Wanaka. That is up to 100000 people in the region. That is a figure that has been supplied to me. Those people are in Central Otago for up to 4 or 5 days. Those up to 100000 extra people in that region want to shop. How do I know they want to shop? Because the retailers tell me that it is so worth their while opening that they are prepared to do so in the face of flouting the law and have done so over a number of years. And why are they prepared to open over Easter? Because they need that trade. They need that trade to see them through the lean times which all retailers have to face. That is why I am extremely happy to bring this bill to the House.  
It is beyond me why the members opposite are so against a retailer making a living. What is it? What is it about a retailer making a living? I am just going to read to the House with the indulgence of the Speaker a submission from a previous Mayor of Queenstown Lakes District Council Clive Geddes who said in 2006: “Queenstown has had a general exemption from the restrictions on trading at Easter and at other times over many years. This reflects our position as an international destination where visitors and residents alike can enjoy many activities and events that would otherwise be stifled by greater restrictions. We receive no complaints about the flexibility that this offers business and the community and it is exercised responsibly by all of the parties involved.” That was the previous Mayor of Queenstown Lakes District Council and if a mayor is not in touch with his community then—well of course a mayor is in touch with his community. 
I acknowledge that there are reservations and objections to Easter trading and I am going to go over a few of those. There is—and of course this is something like the 11th or 12th time this issue has been brought to the House—religious objection to the liberalisation of Easter trading. I respect that position. I utterly respect the position of Christians and people from other religions who choose to celebrate the very nature of Easter—of course I do. But although I respect that position I also say that nobody is forcing anybody to shop. It is a matter of choice what one does at Easter. If one has a very strongly held religious conviction then that is up to the individual. 
I also hear of objections to Easter trading about the family. I note that there are already 11 public holidays in New Zealand and 4 weeks’ annual leave prorated so I would argue that there is plenty of time for people to spend with their family. 
I want to talk about worker protections. Although this bill is imperfect and silent on worker protections I want to tell the House this: should this bill get to the Commerce Committee—and I welcome the opportunity for it to do so because I think that would give the committee the opportunity to talk seriously and in a considered way about worker protection—these are my bottom lines. Employees of shops opening to trade on Easter Sunday would have the absolute right to refuse to work on that day. If an employee’s agreement to work on that day is not given then there would be no penalty on that worker. Where employers wish to trade on Easter Sunday they would be required to give employees reasonable notice. And the final point I would make in this contribution is that actually in Wanaka most of the people working in shops over Easter are there because they want to work. Generally they are— 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Oh come on. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: You see there is the problem. The Opposition does not actually like work. It does not acknowledge that workers enjoy working. Do you know what? In Wanaka people go to work because then they get to play on the ski fields and they get to enjoy everything that Wanaka has to offer. I will have an opportunity to make another contribution to this debate but I certainly encourage members to look at this bill with an open mind. Thank you.