Lee Melissa: Shop Trading Hours Act 1990 Repeal (Easter Sunday Local Choice) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Lee Melissa: Shop Trading Hours Act 1990 Repeal (Easter Sunday Local Choice) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise to support the Shop Trading Hours Act 1990 Repeal (Easter Sunday Local Choice) Amendment Bill. To the former MP for Rotorua Steve Chadwick I say thank you. What a wonderful thing it is that we can work in a cross-party way. I just wish that she could convince more members from the Labour Party to vote for this bill to be referred to a select committee. 
I start with a terrible quotation which seems still to resonate with visitors who come to our shores. When they return to their home countries it is a bit of a joke to them and it is a reputation that as a nation we have not yet dispelled. It is one of the reasons I support this member’s bill from my colleague Todd McClay and what a fantastic member for Rotorua he is. I know that right from the beginning he lobbied me. He put members’ names on a huge wall in his office and he ticked them off as he went about lobbying other members of this House. The quotation is “We went to New Zealand but it was closed.” What a terrible quotation that is. It has been told to me many times and it speaks volumes. However compared with the 1980s when I first arrived in New Zealand things have changed quite dramatically. Retail shops are staying open for longer and in most cases the streets of Auckland and other parts of New Zealand look quite vibrant alive and filled with people unlike back in the early days of my arrival when the city looked quite dull and dead after 5 o’clock. 
In the last 20 years Parliament has made numerous attempts—I think about nine—to repeal this law. It is time to support this member’s bill being referred to a select committee to gauge public opinion through the submissions process so that the people of New Zealand can have their voices heard talk to the select committee and decide. 
For me this bill is not about whether it is right or wrong to allow people to trade on Easter Sunday. People already do. I remember when garden centres were breaking the law to trade on Easter Sunday. Since 2001 garden centres can open on Easter Sunday but hardware stores still cannot. I know quite a few DIY mums and dads whose voices get rather loud over this issue. It is about recognising that there should be a choice and that through choice the law becomes fair. Retailers and customers should have the choice to decide whether they want to trade on Easter Sunday. 
And that choice should be fairly distributed across New Zealand. At the moment the current law allows shops in Queenstown and Taupo to open but not shops in other places including some of New Zealand’s most popular “other” destinations like Rotorua Mount Maunganui and Wanaka. At the moment dairies can open but only to sell food and household items for use on that day. My parents used to own a dairy a long time ago and I remember working at that dairy. My parents used to feel rather guilty opening up shop on Easter Sunday. I remember my mum wondering whether she was breaking the law because she had seen television stories about garden centres apparently defying the law to stay open and we thought the law applied to dairies as well. There was a lot of confusion for us as migrants. We did not understand why shops had to close on Easter Sunday. 
Rotorua is a key destination for Asian visitors to New Zealand and hundreds of thousands of them come to our shores each year. Rotorua is always included in their travel itineraries. Although souvenir shops can open on Easter Sunday many others that provide important services to our tourists face restrictions. I know that a lot of local Asian retailers in Rotorua who would benefit greatly from tourism dollars would jump for joy if they could open on Easter Sunday. It is not about forcing them to open either; it is about having a choice. It is all about choice. 
For me personally Easter and Christmas are the two days when I make sure I am at church with my family but after the church service the day is often spent pottering around the house doing chores. It would be good to know that if I wanted to drive down to Rotorua with my family for a wee break over Easter I would not come back saying “I went to Rotorua but it was closed.” Having that choice would not change my life but for those who count on a hike in the tourism dollar during peak holiday periods it could mean the difference between make or break. We need to give them a break and give them the choice to say yea or nay. Thank you. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Mr Assistant Speaker— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: There is one speaker left who is the proposer of the bill in reply. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Seek leave. It will be granted.