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Federal Govt must nationalise Easter trading hours - ARA calls for archaic burden to be lifted from retailers

Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) today called for the Rudd Government to ‘come good’ on their promise to bring state and federal laws in unison by nationalising retail trading hours.

ARA Executive Director Richard Evans said that the Rudd Government needs to recognise the burden placed on retailers to manage Australia’s antiquated state trading laws and acknowledge consumers want access to goods and services upon demand.

“It’s inconceivable that in this day and age we have such diversity of trading regulations in Australia where in the ACT there are no restrictions of trade over Easter, yet in West Australia – the growth capital of Australia – the laws do not allow general retail trading on Good Friday or Easter Monday. And we all know that West Australian retailers can’t trade normally on Sundays anyway.

“A cursory glance of the Easter trading hours in all states indicates chaos for consumers. It is clear we need leadership on this issue of de-regulation of trading hours and currently we’re not getting any.

“Kevin Rudd promised he would end the confusion with individual state legislation and trading hours is the easiest thing for him to fix. We call upon the Federal Government to lead the states into de-regulation of trading hours and use the model of ACT and Tasmania for guidance.

“The range of complex trading laws across the country makes it difficult for national retail chains, franchises and department stores by adding to the complexity of sorting out rosters, wages, budgets, penalty rates and stock levels. Retailers deserve restrictions of trade lifted and 21st century Australian consumers are demanding access to goods and services across the board and without archaic restrictions from state to state and city to city.

“Consumers should be able to shop whenever they feel like it and currently grumpy old men called state politicians tell them they can’t. Let’s move into the modern world by providing consistent de -regulated shopping hours across Australia for our community,” Evans said.

For over 104 years, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body in Australia's $292 billion retail sector which employs over 1.2 million people. As an incorporated employer body under the Workplace Relations Act and with a range of member services including business consulting, policy development, advocacy and education, the ARA promotes and protects over 5000 independent and national retailers throughout Australia. Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

Australian Easter trading hours

New South Wales

Good Friday - General Shops required to close (except for Sydney CBD, The Newcastle CBD, Cabramatta and the selected tourist areas)
Easter Saturday - Trading permitted
Easter Sunday - General shops required to close (except for Sydney CBD, The Newcastle CBD, Cabramatta and the Section 89B tourist areas)
Easter Monday – Trading permitted

Victoria

Good Friday – Required to close
Easter Saturday – Trading permitted
Easter Sunday – Required to close (for a list of shops outside of Melbourne permitted to trade visit www.business.vic.gov.au and following the link to Victorian Public Holidays and Shop Trading Hours on the home page)
Easter Monday - Trading permitted

Queensland

Good Friday – Non-exempt shops required to close
Easter Saturday
Non-exempt shops in South East Queensland (SEQ) trading hours zone are permitted to trade (8:00am - 6:00pm)
Non-exempt shops in tourist areas outside SEQ are permitted to trade (8:30am to 5:30pm)
Non-exempt shops in the rest of Queensland are permitted to trade (8:00am to 5:00pm)
Easter Sunday – Non –exempt shops required to close (except those tourist areas outside SEQ)
Easter Monday
Non-exempt shops in SEQ are permitted to trade (9:00am - 6:00pm)
Non-exempt shops in the tourist areas outside SEQ are permitted to trade (8:30am - 5:30pm)
Non-exempt shops in the rest of the State are required to close

South Australia

Good Friday – non exempt shops required to close (Adelaide suburbs and CBD)
Easter Saturday - All shops in Adelaide are permitted to trade until 5:00pm
Easter Sunday – Non-exempt shops required to close (Adelaide suburbs and CBD)
Easter Monday – Non-exempt shops required to close (Adelaide suburbs and CBD)

Western Australia

Good Friday – General retail shops required to close
Easter Saturday – Trading permitted
Easter Sunday – General retail shops do not normally trade
Easter Monday - General retail shops required to close (except for Perth and Fremantle tourism precincts)
Tasmania
Good Friday – Required to close
Easter Saturday – Trading permitted
Easter Sunday - Trading permitted
Easter Monday - Trading permitted

Australian Capital Territory

There are no trading restrictions over the Easter period.
Note: General shops (WA and NSW) and non-exempt shops (QLD, VIC and SA) include most national retailers, supermarkets, discount department stores, department stores and national chains.

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