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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2520 ..

Mr Osborne: Like trading hours.

MR HUMPHRIES: Like trading hours; indeed, very much like that. Or we need to let the competitive forces do their job and, we hope, touch wood, produce lower petrol prices. I think I know, on the basis of Mr Osborne's previous advice to me, what he would urge me to do, which is to let the market take care of itself; but if he says that to me in respect of trading hours he must say the same thing to me in respect of petrol prices. In the case of the trading hours decision, the people who were hurt by the decision to go back to open, come one, come all, trading in groceries were the small local retailers in local centres. They will be badly affected. I do not think Mr Osborne can come into this place - - -

Mr Moore: It is the expansion of retail space, not the hours. It always has been.

MR HUMPHRIES: The hours are a factor in that. There is no doubt about that. That is my belief.

Mr Moore: Not much. That is why you realised you were wrong.

MR HUMPHRIES: No; the argument, Mr Speaker, is that you either regulate the industry or you do not. We tried to regulate the industry as far as grocery sales were concerned and we were told that this was the wrong decision to take and that we should let the market do its job. Mr Whitecross, at the time, I recall, urged us to say, "If some small local centres go by the board as a result of competition, that is too bad". You cannot take that line on the issue of trading in groceries and take a different line in respect of trading in petrol.

Mr Speaker, there are no studies available. Frankly, I think there are no accurate measures of how these changes will affect the industry. We do not know what the factors are exactly yet, because they are changing all the time. Apart from the three possible deals I mentioned before, of course, there is also the arrival of Gull, which will be opening very shortly in two locations in the ACT. So, I cannot predict what the outcomes will be. I do note that the Woolworths company has indicated that in centres in New South Wales where they have opened Woolworths Plus outlets no other retailer has gone out of business. I am slightly reassured by that, but I am not much comforted. I am not going to go out and make a promise on the strength of that prediction.

I think members in this place would be the first - in fact, they have been the first - to urge us to let the market do its job. Surprisingly, in that previous debate the Liberal Government was reluctant to let that happen and others on that side of the chamber wanted it to happen. I assume we are agreed, given that previous position, that we should let these forces take a leadership role in regulating petrol prices in the ACT and we will see what comes out of that. There will be casualties out of all of that, no doubt, in my view; but, frankly, there are simply no alternatives, except to say that these new outlets should not be allowed, and I assume no member would want me to do that.

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