Daniel Wills: Upper House victory on rate capping looks promising, but not so on shopping hours

ONE signature election pledge faces a firing squad in the Upper House, as another finds new life. The political equation for Premier Steven Marshall is complex, but solutions can be found.

• Trading hours debate:

• Thebarton Foodland to trade longer
• Opposition says expanded trading is ‘dead’
• Marshall promised extended trading within 100 days

• Rate capping debate:

• LGA calls for calm on rate capping legislation
• SA council rates cap plan legislation to be revealed

• Off the Record: Tops execs come crashing

TWO reform plans, five crossbenchers, highly-contrasting approaches and potentially radically different results.

In the numbers game that is the Upper House of State Parliament, the arithmetic is relatively simple. SA Best and the Greens each hold two votes and independent John Darley is one.

To get any controversial legislation into law, the Government needs three crossbench votes. It can achieve that by getting support from any two of the three different groupings sitting in the middle of the red leather couches.

In the days after the election, it became obvious that Premier Steven Marshall had two significant problems on his hands.

Elected on promises of expanding shop trading hours and putting a cap on skyrocketing council rates, he looked stranded without the Upper House votes to do either and faced defeats on both signature policies.

Independent MLC John Darley.

One, shop trading, is still stuck. And, as time rolls on, support the Government was expecting is softening further as Mr Darley cools on reform.

This week, he told The Advertiser: “When I was first approached about this idea of deregulation of shopping hours, I think it was with (Treasurer) Rob Lucas down in the members’ bar, I said ‘It doesn’t seem a bad idea to me’.”

“But then you start looking into it and the ramifications and you say ‘hang on, there’s a few problems’,” Mr Darley said, adding that he was now “certain” to vote against shopping hours change.

SA Best also remain shop sceptics, and the Greens firm opponents, as the Government’s path to passage becomes harder to find than milk on a Sunday morning.

But Mr Lucas isn’t talking like a loser. In fact, he can see a kind of victory hidden under the cloak of defeat.

Mr Lucas has taken a deliberately high-stakes approach to this legislation.

Rather than offer the Upper House a menu of options, and the chance to pick out piecemeal reform on Sunday mornings or public holidays, he’s throwing down an all-or-nothing ultimatum.

Premier Steven Marshall.

The “repeal and replace” plan would junk existing shop-trading laws and put in place the Government’s view of what would be a perfect new system. It comes with the threat that shops which are flouting existing regulations by opening when they shouldn’t will face a crackdown that pulls the shutters down if the Upper House blocks change.

Mr Lucas is almost goading the crossbench into conflict. He feels public opinion is so firm in the Government’s favour that parties which block reform will suffer tough judgment at the next election, especially Labor. And, after 36 years in State Parliament, he’s proven himself to be an extremely patient man.

Mr Lucas said he “will be campaigning on this, to get it through” and then “right through to 2022” if the Upper House “decides to keep the dog’s breakfast legislation that we’ve got”.

It’s one novel approach to winning friends and influencing people.

Local Government Minister Stephan Knoll’s approach to council rate capping is a stark study in contrasts.

At the election, rate capping had just as much chance of becoming law as shop trading. The Greens and SA Best were opposed, with Mr Darley open.

Now, with a bit of coercion and compromise, there is every chance that rate capping legislation will succeed where shopping reform seems doomed to fail.

Mr Knoll this week revealed the final detail of his rate cap plan. It differs significantly from the one the Liberals proposed in Opposition, and carries a significant concession aimed at countering councils’ fears they would not have enough money to fund new developments in high-growth housing areas.

“I do look forward to helping local government realise this isn’t the bogey man,” Mr Knoll said as the sell began.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese and Port Adelaide Enfield’s Gary Johanson have since gone public with calls for the Local Government Association to end its ratepayer-funded campaign against a cap. A major meeting of councils next week, including many mayors who must be thinking twice about how support for uncontrolled rate rises would play at local government elections in November, could end with a game-changing backflip that would reverberate loudly in Parliament’s red chamber.

SA Best MP Frank Pangallo, in usual straightforward fashion, this week said: “Mate, if most of the councils are for it, it’s a pretty compelling argument. It’s … pretty hard to vote it down”.

Mr Knoll has also offered personal briefings to crossbenchers in a bid to quell concerns. Mr Darley is so deep in the bag as a rate cap supporter that he instead used the time to get stuck into the minister about an unanswered letter about land swaps and roadworks.

If councils are won over, and their backing rolled into support from Mr Darley and SA Best in the Upper House, Mr Knoll can make his equation work even without the Opposition.

Mr Lucas has made a strategic choice. Sensing a loss, he’s trying to salvage political capital from an otherwise ugly situation. Mr Knoll has a foot in the door and is trying to force it open.

The combined result should encourage the Government. The Upper House is showing the willingness to change its mind when new evidence is presented.

On shops, Mr Darley has drifted away. On rates, SA Best is edging forward. But, they’re all listening.