Supermarkets put on notice for breaching SA’s complex and controversial trading laws

In a look the Government concedes is “ridiculous”, eleven supermarkets have been put on notice for breaching SA’s “stupid” and complex trading laws, and face fines of over $100,000.

Eleven supermarkets have been put on notice for breaching SA’s complex and controversial trading laws, and face fines of more than $100,000 if they don’t cut back trading hours or floorspace.

The Advertiser can reveal SafeWork SA wrote to the shops to demand compliance within three months, after investigations found they were not adhering to the current system.

The State Government has ridiculed current laws as a “dog’s breakfast”.

City supermarkets that are under 400 square metres have more flexibility around when they can open.

Eleven supermarkets have been put on notice for breaching SA’s complex and controversial trading laws, and face fines of more than $100,000 if they don’t cut back trading hours or floorspace.

It is understood all but one of the offending stores are in Adelaide, and are a mix of shops from the IGA and Foodland groups that have been among the strongest opponents of reform. It is expected some will cut back on hours and not trade on public holidays or Sunday mornings, while others may instead reconfigure their shops in a bid to follow the rules.

The Government has conceded it’s a “ridiculous” look to be strictly enforcing rules it considers “stupid”, but insists it can’t pick and choose who the law of the land applies to.

Premier Steven Marshall’s deregulation push was defeated in Parliament last year, because an Upper House coalition of Labor and the crossbench vetoed the campaign pledge.

That plan would have allowed widespread public holiday trading, plus earlier and later weekend opening.

At the time, Treasurer Rob Lucas warned that failure to embrace his reform would lead the Government to enforce tighter compliance with a regime it believed was antiquated.

Treasurer Rob Lucas

“Sadly, this is the reality of what we said all along, that if we weren’t able to make the change then this stupid law was going to have to be enforced,” Mr Lucas said yesterday.

“This is just ridiculous, the fact that we have got to police a law that we don’t believe in.

“But if, for example, Myers and Woolworths and Coles or Aldi just ignored the law on a public holiday or started trading at 9am (on a Sunday), there’d be hell to pay. “There’d be screams saying ‘why aren’t you enforcing the law, you’re allowing these ugly giants to trade’?

“But the law is the law. We have no choice but to ensure the law is complied with.”

If the supermarkets do not comply by May 20, SafeWork SA can issue prohibition notices with maximum penalties of $100,000, plus $20,000 for every day that shops keep breaking the law.

There is significant legal uncertainty about how shop floorspaces are calculated, including disputes about if work areas in delis and closed cigarette compartments should be counted.

But it is believed that supermarkets which move fridges or display cases in from walls to shrink available shopping spaces can use that technique to shrink their official store sizes.

Mr Lucas said: “The options are all open to them, in terms of trying to find a loophole, such as moving everything in and trying to permanently reduce the size of the store, or they’ll have to reduce their hours. I suspect in some cases … they’ll have to not trade.”

SA Independent Retailers chief executive Colin Shearing

SA Independent Retailers chief executive Colin Shearing said stores should comply with the law, and warned Mr Lucas against further “politicising” the shop trading debate.

“These stores have to get their act together, we applaud for that to happen,” he said.

“We have no problems with that at all. If you are in the wrong, get it fixed.”

“But don’t politicise this with trading hours and deregulation. It has nothing to do with it.”

Mr Shearing said any breaches were by accident or ignorance, and it was difficult for small business to know the precise details of the current shop trading legislation.

He said there would likely be a “mix” of corrective measures from the stores.

“Some will revert to the hours that they are supposed to be trading in,” Mr Shearing said.

“Others will reduce the size of their stores to keep operating how they are now.”

Upper House Opposition Leader Kyam Maher last year told Parliament that independent retailers were “part of the very fabric of this state” and they would lose from deregulation.

“If we do things that increase the market share of the big retailers at the expense of independent retailers, there will be an impact on local jobs and local manufacturing,” he said.

Mr Lucas says his reform plan will not return to Parliament unless the Opposition or crossbench have a public change of heart, and instead become a 2022 state election issue.

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