Mackey Moana: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mackey Moana: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I want to take a short call on this bill and I do so because although I did not vote for Jacqui Dean’s bill when it came before the House a few weeks ago I will be voting for Steve Chadwick’s bill to go to the select committee. I want to explain why I am doing that. 
I oppose Easter trading and I always have. Many small-business people came to talk with me when they heard this bill was coming up and asked me not to vote for it. They felt that when the Warehouse opens they also have to open otherwise they might lose customers because they would think they had not bothered to open that day. Those people were the only people who came to me about this bill. I support many of the comments made by my colleague Russell Fairbrother but I feel that in this House there is a will for this bill to proceed and I am facing the reality that it will probably pass. If this bill is to pass then I want it to be the best bill it can be for all the people who will be affected by it. 
With all due respect to Jacqui Dean she was quite prescriptive in terms of the areas that would or would not be affected and I thought that could be problematic. It is good that the two bills are going forward side by side because it will mean we can decide whether the legislation should be district-wide or prescriptive. It may well be that councils will come along and say there is no way they have the political will to say they will open up everything on Easter Sunday. That is very true but it is a discussion the select committee should have. 
Most important Steve Chadwick’s bill addresses the issue of workers’ rights. When I was at high school and working in a dairy I was forced to work on Christmas Day. I was told I had to work on Christmas Day or I would be fired. That was fine for me. My mother was really angry with me that I went along to work but I needed the job. On Christmas morning I worked alongside a single mother who had three kids. She was working on Christmas Day because she had been told the same thing I had been told. I do not know whether that is an isolated case or whether it is widespread practice but it is a real concern to me—because it does happen. 
Clauses in Steve Chadwick’s bill address the issue of workers being made to work on Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is a very special day for many people and it might be for those workers. But if they are forced to choose between their religion—their beliefs—and their job then that is a very difficult decision for people. I think the select committee needs to consider that very very seriously. If businesses want to open on Easter Sunday well more power to them but they should not have the ability to coerce their workers to work on that day as well. It may well be that this is more of an issue with bigger employers than it is with smaller ones. 
The reason I will vote for this bill to go to the select committee is that I think it will pass through the House and therefore I want it to be as good as it can be. The two bills going through together will mean that more of the issues that are important to the people in my area will be addressed than would be the case if this bill were to be defeated tonight.