Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this motion and commend the member for Wakefield for bringing it to the attention of the House. I listened to the comments from the member for Mayo and I will say two things. Firstly, at least he as a South Australian was prepared to come into the chamber and debate this issue; I do not see any other South Australian members here right now debating an issue that is pertinent to South Australia.

I come to this debate as someone who from the time I left school to the time I came into this chamber ran a small business. I operated a small business and in fact a range of different small businesses along the way that operated seven days a week from morning til night. I can well recall that each Christmas and New Year's Eve the businesses I operated were open. I would always work on those evenings, because I did not want to impose on the people who worked for us, to take away from them what I believed was very important family time.

It is a very important time for families. Irrespective of whether or not you are a Christian, irrespective of whether your new year starts on 1 January, those two occasions are universally accepted as times of celebration across the world, particularly for Christians. There is no other time of the year, other than perhaps the Thursday before Good Friday, that businesses around the country in fact close early in order to give their staff a little bit of extra time. So anyone who works at those times is clearly being imposed on, clearly being deprived of family time and clearly making a sacrifice. It is high time that that was properly recognised, as is the case in the agreement drawn up between industry in South Australia and the South Australian government.

I want to make a couple of other comments in response to what the member for Mayo said. I was disappointed to hear him having a go at Peter Vaughan. I have not always agreed with Peter Vaughan, but I will say this: for years and years Peter Vaughan has been a voice for businesses and small businesses in South Australia. Whilst I might not have agreed with him on all occasions over the years, I certainly respect the fact that he was trying to do the best that he could on behalf of his members.

Mr Briggs interjecting—

If the member for Mayo does not share that view, that is his opinion. But as someone who would probably see Peter Vaughan as being on the other side of politics from me, I have always seen him as someone who stands up for the people he represents. I would also make this point. He talked about giving a go to young people. It is my view that it is not about giving a go to young people in reality; it is about exploiting young people by saying to them: 'You will work for less than what you should be entitled to because you are desperate, because this is perhaps the only time that you can get a job.' I find that argument entirely flawed.

The third argument that the member for Mayo put up is that small businesses today are competing with businesses around the world. That is absolutely true, but I cannot imagine any person in hospitality working on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve having to compete with someone across the world. Nor can I imagine anyone working on New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve, even if they work in retail, having to compete with someone across the world, because people who shop at that time of the night are shopping because they need their last-minute goods and they are certainly not going to be able to get them from competitors on the other side of the world. So quite frankly that is also a flawed argument.

This motion recognises that we have changed shopping hours across the country in most states over the last three or four decades—and rightly so—but we have never stopped to think that, in changing the shopping hours, which we have done because society has changed, it might also be high time to look at what public holidays and what other times in a normal week are relevant and appropriate in terms of being paid penalty rates. This motion recognises that those two evenings are times that truly are set aside for families or, if not families, for friendships and so on. Anyone who works at those times ought to be paid appropriately.

It is interesting to note that all of those people who claim that they want additional shopping hours and who would like to see the shops open additional hours and the like are generally not working themselves. The loudest voice comes from those sectors of the community who do not have to make the sacrifice. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:38 to 12:57

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