Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Dean Jacqui: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)  Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:631;Page:3603] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Otago) 
: 
 The good news is that Rotorua’s crusade was won a couple of weeks ago when my Easter Sunday Shop Trading Amendment Bill was read a first time and sent to the Commerce Committee. 
I rise to support Steve Chadwick’s bill which is called—it has a long name—the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill 2006. Anomalies do exist in the current Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act. Queenstown can trade happily over Easter whereas Wanaka cannot. Taupo can trade happily over Easter whereas Rotorua cannot. In fact a number of towns and cities throughout New Zealand do trade against the law over Easter and it is that anomaly that Steve Chadwick’s bill—and indeed my bill—seeks to overcome. 
I have to say that the anomaly has stuck in the craw of many many busy tourist towns in New Zealand with the current law as it stands being patently unfair to some towns and to the advantage of others. Wanaka like Queenstown is a busy tourist town particularly over Easter. Every second year the Warbirds over Wanaka International Air Show and the Race to the Sky bring up to 100000 visitors to the district all of whom want to holiday and many of whom want to shop. Every year the Department of Labour brings prosecutions against many of those retailers—in fact some schedule it in their calendar. It has become a  
Groundhog Day 
 situation for many retailers throughout New Zealand where it appears that nothing seems to change. 
Both Easter shop trading bills—both Steve Chadwick’s which is under discussion today and mine—seek to provide a level playing field for retailers all over New Zealand. I want to talk about the features of my bill just as a reminder. My bill would allow retailers to have the choice as to whether they open. The bill that I have proposed which has been sent to the Commerce Committee applies to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I note here that a spokesman from the Catholic Church has indicated that it has no problem with shops remaining open over Easter. In fact I note that most shops in Rome trade happily over the Easter festival. 
 My bill does not in any way cut across or diminish provisions in the Holidays Act or indeed the Employment Relations Act and I note that those are the worker protections that are included in the bill that I proposed. I refer to the advice I received from Ministry of Justice officials regarding the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. They advised that section 47 of the Holidays Act 2003 states that employees may be required to work on public holidays when they have agreed in their employment agreement to work on public holidays and the public holiday falls on a day on which those employees would normally work. If employees do not wish to work on Good Friday and/or Easter Sunday they cannot be required to work unless they have agreed in their employment agreement to do so—and I would imagine that Steve Chadwick has been provided with the same advice on her bill. 
My bill does not cut across any lease provisions that may be in existence. Most important the bill I have proposed provides for an opt-in mechanism whereby towns and cities—if they want to be—can be added to the schedule of the bill by way of an amendment which some would say is an elegantly simple process. I am pleased that that bill has passed its first reading and now sits with the Commerce Committee and I hope that Steve Chadwick’s bill will join mine for consideration by that committee. 
When my bill was sent to the select committee I wrote to the chambers of commerce around New Zealand retailer associations Business New Zealand various retailers and individual business owners. I have also written to every local authority in New Zealand. I believe that if this bill is to finally succeed it must be driven by the retail sector. I believe we have a changing environment here in Parliament and I anticipate good support for this bill but if we really want change then it must be driven by people in the retail sector. So I am lobbying those people hard in order to get their indications of support. 
I am receiving a huge amount of mail in support of the bill and also a number of suggested amendments. Many of those amendments are from people in areas with high visitor numbers who would like their towns and cities to be added to the schedule of my bill. They want to be part of the opt-in process. I am also very happy for any of those amendments to be discussed by the Commerce Committee. I am aware that some chambers of commerce are suggesting that picking towns opting in and devolving to local government is not the way to go and they would like to see the law changed for all New Zealand. I am very happy for that option to be discussed by the select committee. So members can imagine my joy when Steve Chadwick’s bill was drawn from the ballot several weeks after mine. Steve Chadwick’s bill has a similar aim to mine. As I have said we have agreed to support each other’s bill should it be drawn so I do support this bill. We want to achieve the same aim but we want to achieve it in different ways. 
Steve Chadwick’s bill seeks to allow shops to open on Easter Sunday only. The responsibility for giving effect to this bill is devolved to local authorities and that is where I have a problem with the way this bill proposes to proceed. I believe that by devolving responsibility to local government the bill will arguably trigger a special consultative process under the Local Government Act 2002. That process would add 6 months 7 months 8 months or more on to the time local authorities take to deal with this process. I have sought advice from one small local authority which advised me that it would add more than $20000 in costs to its ratepayers. That local authority may have no desire to have the ability to trade over Easter. I imagine and I am pretty sure that this would be a compulsory process for local authorities. So for example in the Waitaki district and maybe in the Grey district there may be no call for shops to trade over Easter yet the local authorities would incur the cost time and angst of that consultation process. I have huge reservations about that process. I believe that that is an unnecessarily cumbersome process and my biggest fear is that it will not be settled before next Easter. 
I would be open to the select committee establishing an appeal authority where for example cities or towns could apply in the future for an exemption to the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act as was the case pre-1999. I think that I am in favour of this bill and I am open to the select committee having a good discussion on it because I believe that we must put this matter to bed once and for all. 
For most towns in New Zealand with a significant visitor industry like Wanaka and Rotorua Easter trading provides a boost to the town’s income and a service to the thousands upon thousands of visitors who are there for the full range of visitor experiences. I believe that the time has come for us to put right the anomalies in the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act and to recognise that tourism is in fact a 365-day-a-year industry and that it is one of New Zealand’s largest contributors to gross domestic product and to goods and services tax. Now is the time finally to let tourist towns with a significant visitor industry go about their business without unfair archaic and unnecessary regulation. I urge members to send this Easter Sunday shop trading bill—however imperfect—to the select committee.