Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Given some of the debate that we have heard from the other side, I think it is important to look at exactly what this motion says because, from what we have heard from the other side, we simply do not know if they are actually debating the motion before us. The wording is:

That this House:

(1) notes the South Australian Labor Government's proposal to extend trading hours in Adelaide with the exception of certain public holidays;

(2) acknowledges that Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are important occasions for families and communities to spend together; and

(3) supports the South Australian Labor Government's policy to declare part day public holidays after 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

It seems a rather innocuous motion. However, on the issue of trading hours I believe that a business, especially a small business, should be free to open when it wants to, rather than being told by government legislation when it can and cannot open.

The difficulty that small business people have is that, when they have to open on a weekend—on a Saturday or Sunday—because of the penalty rates they would be forced to pay their staff, they find they have no alternative but to work those hours themselves. So we find throughout our community that we have many people in small business working six- and seven-day weeks, longer than anyone else in any other sector of the community, to keep their business open because of this type of legislation. Those who are often in favour of this legislation are silent on what is truly affecting small business, that tilts the level playing field away from them, and that is our zoning laws, which have a great restriction on where a small business can establish and set up. That is what causes the great inequities that we see in rent paid by small business compared with their larger competitors.

It is worth while noting a comment by one of the most notable economists and social philosophers of the 20th century, Ludwig von Mises. He talked about central planning and how it influences people's ordinary lives; about these types of restrictive planning laws that restrict where small business can be located:

The planner is a potential dictator who wants to deprive all other people of the power to plan and act according to their own plans. He aims at one thing only: the exclusive absolute pre-eminence of his own plan.

That is where we see so much difficulty in our retail sector. These issues are a result of the restrictions that we have on where small retailers can set up shop.

Running a small retail business in today's economy is very difficult. We are now, probably for the first time in retail's history, competing on an international scale. If you are running a retail shop today, you are in competition with anyone selling on the internet. The internet is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That is why we should look to deregulate our retail areas where we possibly can, to try and give our retail shops the ability to compete against the internet. But we also need to look at deregulating our zoning laws to drive rents down and make sure that small business in our retail sector can compete effectively against the internet, because that is currently not happening.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are important occasions for families to spend together. However, if a retail shop wishes to open on those days, should it be up to the government to legislate and say that they have to close their doors? I say that is a step too far. Although this motion is quite simplistic, we need to be very careful we do not overregulate our retail sector, not only in our zoning laws but especially in our planning laws as well. Thank you.

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