WA retail trading hours
This is a contentious issue in Western Australia. Most shops and supermarkets here can’t trade after 6pm on weekdays or on Sunday at all.
I can’t think of anywhere in the developed world that has such restricted trading hours. Maybe Sundays are banned somewhere for religious reasons, but evenings, when most people actually have time to shop?
There have been referendums on the issue previously, at state and local level, and any move to extend trading hours has been defeated.
I can’t recall there being a referendum on the issue in any other state. The governments there just got on with the job and let the people have their say at the next election.
There was some scaremongering in Victoria, mostly about the predicted demise of small business. This never occurred.
The Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is leading a new push to extend retail trading hours.
“Extended trading hours will create thousands of new jobs and give workers greater flexibility in the hours they work,” the chamber says.
I don’t think there should be a referendum on this issue. The government would be better advised to have a one-year trial and allow the impact to be independently assessed.
That reminds me of the other prickly WA issue of daylight saving, with which the government decided on a three-year trial. One year was enough, just as it would be with shop trading hours.
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Tags: opinion, politics, Western-Australia
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Personally, I dont think it is a legitimate role of any level of government to impose restrictions on retail trading hours. If Coles wants to sell to me, and I wish to buy from Coles a 2L bottle of milk at 3am Sunday morning it is absolutely no one else’s business: especially the governments!