Page 2811 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 22 November 1989
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It is estimated that the consultancy would cost in the vicinity of $50,000. I suppose that some within government would argue that this is an unwarranted cost. I can assure them it is not.
When the ill-considered, the ill-timed amendments of the Payroll Tax legislation were recently pushed through, the ACT Treasury suggested that they would be able to get their hands on an extra $2m of business money. I do not think it is asking too much to reinvest some of this revenue in the business sector which is, after all, being asked to bear a disproportionate share of the revenue burden of the ACT.
That letter is signed by Jeff Kelly, the President of ASBA.
The manager of the newly opened Canberra Centre has said that there is already evidence that the centre, based on sales figures of Saturday morning trade, is screaming for extended hours. The pattern is as follows: between 9 am and 10 am there is 10 per cent of total business; between 10 am and 11 am, 25 per cent; and between 11 am and noon, 65 per cent. At 12 noon, when trading is at a peak, the doors of the centre close and many shoppers leave, disappointed that time did not permit them to complete their shopping.
In conclusion, Mr Speaker, let me say that the balance that best serves all interests is to allow the ACT to fall in line with New South Wales by permitting Saturday afternoon trading. Saturday afternoon trading will encourage a healthier retail industry in the ACT; make shopping more convenient for our tourists and allow them to spend the retail dollars in the ACT; give Canberrans the advantage of shopping in their own locality rather than having to travel interstate; but, most importantly, Saturday afternoon trading will provide Canberra businesses with the scope to undertake the economic expansion that the public sector is no longer able to contribute to.
As the Canberra Times stated in its editorial on 11 November:
Canberra could have deregulated shopping hours -
It used the word "deregulated"; I did not -
before Christmas if the ACT Legislative Assembly really puts its mind to it. There is nothing intrinsically difficult about the process ...
The issue of what terms and conditions employees get for working outside "normal" hours is an issue between employer and employee. The industrial question is irrelevant to the issue of whether it should be against the law to open a shop on Saturday afternoon.
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