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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2078 ..

MR SPEAKER: That is the same point of order that I ruled on earlier. There is no point of order.

MR HUMPHRIES: It appears that those opposite want to ask the questions but not to hear the answers. Mr Speaker, the question, if I can recall back that far, was: What evidence do we have that suggests that jobs will be created in the group centres or local centres to offset those that are lost in town centres? There are two bases to the answer I want to offer. First of all, as at the 1991-92 census there were approximately 126 grocery shops and supermarkets, including the large supermarkets, in the ACT. These shops employed some 3,368 people. In the past five years or so about 23 small grocery shops or supermarkets have gone bust in this Territory. Assuming that the numbers have been proportionate to the number of - - -

Mr Berry: You cannot assume that.

MR HUMPHRIES: It is no better basis for assuming that a job is going to be gained than your assumptions on how many jobs are going to be lost, Mr Berry, so I put it forward as at least something that is vaguely empirical. The fact is that in that time, using that ratio, the number of jobs lost in those centres has been something in the order of 600. Mr Speaker, those of us who have bothered to look at what has gone on in local supermarkets in neighbourhood centres in this city would not doubt that figure of 600 jobs, not for one instant. We have all seen local centres in this city devastated by a number of factors, including competition from other places. I believe that 600 jobs is a quite accurate figure to work from. However, let us just put that to one side. Let us take a more empirical basis for the evidence that Mr Berry seeks. In today's Financial Review there was also an article about the impact of longer trading hours on local trading. It quotes Dr Robert Baker, a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of New England in Armidale. He says:

Studies show that a substantial extension of trading hours allow supermarkets to increase their trade areas, but a lot of traditional strip shopping centres suffer. In some of those centres, there are about 20 per cent vacant shops.

We need our supermarkets, but if they set the hours to suit themselves I do not think that they will benefit the community.

I think that those views are accurate. It is views like that on which the Government has based its decision.

MR BERRY: I have a supplementary question for the Minister who is riding shotgun for the incompetent Minister responsible.

MR SPEAKER: You have a supplementary question without preamble. That is what you have.

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