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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2441 ..

Ms Tucker: I cannot believe what I am hearing - - -

MR SPEAKER: Neither can I.

MS McRAE: You are going to mess about with the market, mess about with people's choices, mess about with how people shop, mess about with how people have chosen to live and have chosen to reside near town centres. In Belconnen they have put up picture theatres, eight of them. Do you know what people like to do after they go to the pictures? They go to the pictures and then they go shopping. Do you know what? They chose to live there because they like to do that. Mrs Carnell laughs. She knows how people live. Do you know what? She is going to tell them, "No, if you live near the Belconnen Town Centre, you are not allowed to have that choice any more. No, off you trot, off to Jamison in the middle of the night and do your shopping". It is outrageous. It is the most ridiculous bit of legislation we have yet seen from the Liberals. To top it all off they are saying, "We are going to mess about with the market, but hang on for two years. Just hang on, because in two years' time, you know what? There is a sunset clause". What rubbish!

I sincerely hope that our comrades here will see a bit of sense and we will put in a Bill to repeal this nonsense in six months' time when they have had a chance to have a bit of quiet thinking time. We have two months off. They will have a bit of thinking to do. We do not need a sunset clause. We will be seeing the end of this ridiculous bit of legislation well before the two years. I urge everybody to vote against it and the legislation.

MS TUCKER (12.36 am): I will have to state again that Ms McRae and other members in this place seem to be thinking that the Greens have suddenly thought that maybe we will support this proposal by the Liberals. I will state again that we have a commitment to small shops, to local neighbourhood centres. We have had a policy which supports regulation of trading hours for some time. Ms McRae keeps claiming that we are messing about. Yes, that is what regulation could be called, messing about; but the point is that regulation is actually about trying to provide equity, and we have seen nothing happen, ever, from the Labor Party, although they do claim to have a platform of social justice. This is not just a local issue, this is a global issue as well. You can see that quite clearly from competition and the effect of it. It is now being recognised by the United Nations and the World Bank.

We need to mess about, Ms McRae. We need to mess around with markets. We do. Messing around is actually in the interest of people and the environment, and that is what regulation is about. The Liberal Party have suggested a sunset clause and we have another hysterical reaction. "My God, this means it is an absolute disaster", they say. Not necessarily. A sunset clause could quite equally be an attempt to say, "Yes, we are introducing controversial legislation. Yes, we are prepared to look at it again". The Greens do not necessarily think that is necessary at the moment, but these reactions that are coming from the Labor Party, from Mr Moore and from Mr Osborne are quite out of kilter.

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