Tisch Lindsay: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Tisch Lindsay: Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading)Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9308] 
LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 This Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill before the House tonight is about fairness and about having laws that reflect the realities of contemporary life. Before Parliament passed the 1990 Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act the Department of Labour operated its own Shop Trading Hours Commission which would hear and grant dispensations. This body was extinguished and there is now no avenue under current legislation for retailers to apply for exemptions. So those who received exemptions prior to 1990 have done very well but of course this has created much friction for those who now wish to trade on Easter Sunday. Visitor destinations like Queenstown and Taupo can trade on Easter Sunday but Rotorua Mount Maunganui and Wanganui cannot. I recall a couple of years ago a cruise liner coming into Mount Maunganui. The shops in Mount Maunganui were not open and the shops in Tauranga were not open so buses were put on to take visitors from the ships down to Taupo. The bus even had to pass Rotorua to get there. 
In my opening statement I said that this bill is about fairness. These examples demonstrate how stupid the current law is. There has been a long history of trading restrictions in New Zealand. The 1990 Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act provided some compromise and now we have the opportunity to extend those provisions. Currently there are two groups of shops permitted to open on restricted days. These are special types of shops and are in particular areas. Stores such as dairies and service stations selling food drink household items personal items and automotive fuel lubricants parts and accessories are able to open. Shops selling mainly souvenirs duty-free goods and ready-to-eat food bookstalls at public passenger transport terminals pharmacies and shops of genuine exhibitions and shows—and following an amendment to the Act in 2001 garden centres—may open on Easter Sunday. 
 A second group of shops in some areas may open because the Act froze some area exemption orders that had been granted under the Shop Trading Act of 1977. Those exemptions were decided by a commission based on the application and a hearing process. The commission had to be satisfied that the exemption was in the best interests of the public generally based on the following factors: public demand effect on retail prices effect on family and social patterns in the area the nature of the area the desirability of providing service to the public at all reasonable times in tourist and holiday resort areas stability and economic planning in a wider area the interests of other shop occupiers minimising trading on Sundays and the 40-hour week principle. If a shop does not clearly fit into one of the exempting categories it is an offence to open and trade during restricted times and the occupier may be liable to a fine up to $1000. 
The retailers appear to consider fines as a cost of doing business and minimal compared with the costs associated with having to close. The maximum fine level is also minimal in comparison with the resource expenditure of the Department of Labour to visit investigate and prosecute such breaches. Recent decisions by the court also reduce the effectiveness of the penalty regime. To date the department has prosecuted 70 shops—[ 
Interruption 
] Madam Speaker— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member is quite right. Members cannot stand and speak. If they want conversation they should go out into the corridors. I apologise Mr Tisch. 
LINDSAY TISCH 
: Recent decisions of the court also reduce the effectiveness of the penalties regime. To date the department has prosecuted 70 shop owners for opening over the 2006 Easter period. Those prosecutions resulted in 14 shop owners being convicted and discharged without fines 54 shop owners being convicted and fined and two shop owners being convicted and warned. It is interesting to note that there are a number of exemptions already for Easter Sunday: Parnell Road in Auckland; the Arts Centre of Christchurch; the Carnegie Centre in Dunedin The Marketplace and Collins Road in Hamilton and the Napier market. Nelson can trade on Christmas Day which is interesting and also Good Friday when Founders Park is open. 
We debated my colleague Jacqui Dean’s bill the other day that said we could not have Good Friday trading yet there are places where there are exemptions to trade on Good Friday and on Christmas Day. Paihia shops can trade on Easter Friday and Easter Sunday. Picton in the Mariners Mall also has Friday and Sunday trading if a cruise ship is in the port and Queenstown has Easter Friday. Richmond Court in Thames where full-time artists and craftspeople sell their own goods at stalls can open on Christmas Day and Wanaka can open on Easter Sunday. When we look at the point I made this bill is about fairness and equity because it takes out some of the distortions in how the exemptions currently operate. 
The principal changes proposed by Steve Chadwick’s bill are that it enables territorial authorities to decide whether retail shops in the districts may open on Easter Sunday after consulting with their communities—and that is the point she made earlier on—using the special consultative process provided in Part 6 of the Local Government Act 2002. It provides that in districts that permit Easter Sunday trading employment agreements entered into before the bill is passed cannot be interpreted as requiring shop employees to work on Easter Sunday unless the parties to the agreements so agree. I think that is a significant protection for those who have opposed the opening on Easter Sunday. That protection is there under current employment law so they are not required to work if they do not wish. 
Of the 54 submissions that came in on this bill—and while I was not on the Commerce Committee I have certainly analysed these—32 were in support and 22 were opposed. Most of the submissions of course as one would expect came from the business community and those involved in tourism. Tourism is New Zealand’s No. 1 export earner so it is important that tourism operators are able to serve the clients who come in. In my own area of the Waikato there was a very good submission from the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. It represents over 250 businesses in central Waikato and its submission stated: “The town and its environs Lake Karapiro and soon the highly visitor attractive Maungatautari wildlife reserve lie geographically situated in a part of an area known for its natural beauty. This results in the area becoming an attraction to visitors both from within New Zealand and from overseas.” The point that the submission made here was that Easter Sunday trading was going to be important for the businesses in being able to cater for those needs of those visitors who came into the region. 
Many will oppose this but whether one opens on Easter Sunday will be a matter for shop owners to decide. The protection that employees have in not being required to work I think is significant and with those words I will be supporting the passing of this bill.