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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (22 May) . . Page.. 1582 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The demographics in the city are changing. People who years ago did not work, such as women in the home, are now working. People who did not have cars years ago, when these local centres were established, now have cars. There is a much higher proportion of people with two incomes and two cars. People will travel further to get what they perceive to be a bargain or to go somewhere where they think they can get a better deal or where the shopping opportunities are greater, such as in a town centre. The average household has a lower density than it had 20 years ago, which means that there are fewer people in the catchment of each of these local shops. Those things are having an enormous impact on town centres. In fact, those things predated the recent expansion of town centres, which has caused so many problems for local businesses. There are a number of local shops in this city which have closed in recent years - shops in my suburb of Weston, in Aranda, and in a whole series of other small places. They closed in advance of the expansion of the town centres. How does Ms Horodny explain that? The fact is that the closures are not caused just by the expansion of the town centres; they are caused by other things as well.

The fact is that for a complex problem we need a sophisticated response, and we do not get that through what the Greens have proposed. This Government is concerned about the position that those local businesses find themselves in. Next week, this Government will announce a retail strategy. That strategy will be based on a number of documents. It will be based on the Ibecon study, which was commissioned by the previous Government and which looked at the impact of changes in retailing patterns, in particular, on the growth of town centres and the impact on local centres. That document has provided interesting and important information about the way in which local retailing is being affected.

We also have commissioned a review of trading hours in the ACT by Mr John Hyndes. That has also been important in educating our point of view. We have also indicated our concern about the social impact of changes in retailing by commissioning a social impact assessment, which is now available. This Government's stated plan was always as follows: To comprehensively collect the information available on the position of retailing in this Territory in the first year of our term of office; in the second year, state and put in place a retail strategy; and, in the third year, hopefully, if all goes according to plan, begin to see the benefits of that policy in place.

Next week, I hope to be in a position to announce that retail strategy of this Government. When it comes forward, I believe that members will see a strategy which, for the first time in this Territory, addresses the question of the interrelationship between those town centres and local centres; deals with the question of trading hours; and looks at how we sustain a real hierarchy offering opportunities for both shopping and investment across the whole city. That has not occurred in the past. The former Government proposed to deregulate trading hours altogether. They had a Bill on the table to do that - no trading hours control whatsoever. Ms Horodny has said that she wants to close town centres at 6 o'clock in the evening.

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