Treasurer Rob Lucas confirms State Government to miss deadline of introducing new shop laws to Parliament in 100 days

PARLIAMENT faces a high-stakes all-or-nothing battle on shop trading hours, amid warnings some stores are opening outside of allowed times and will have to shut if reform is blocked.

• Rob Lucas promises new shop trading laws by early July
• Peter Malinauskas says expanded Sunday morning hours are ‘dead’
• Study shows most South Australians want deregulated hours

PARLIAMENT faces a high-stakes all-or-nothing battle on shop trading hours, amid warnings some stores are opening outside of allowed times and will have to shut if reform is blocked.

Advertiser.com.au today revealed the State Government will introduce the legislation to Parliament next month, missing a self-imposed pre-election deadline of doing so in 100 days.

Treasurer Rob Lucas also confirmed he will deliver a “repeal and replace” ultimatum, offering Parliament a straight choice between the full Government plan or no change at all.

That means the Opposition and key crossbenchers will not be able to amend the legislation just to slightly expand shopping on Sunday mornings, weekend evenings or public holidays.

The Government plan maintains restrictions to stop large shops from opening on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Anzac morning but otherwise allows for widespread deregulation.

Mr Lucas said the state’s current shop trading laws were a total “dog’s breakfast” that was costing jobs, and the only acceptable solution was to wipe the legislation out and start again.

“It would be repealed,” he said. “The Government’s proposition is that the existing legislation is such a complete dog’s breakfast that our proposal will be to repeal it and to replace it.

“It is such a mess that it needs to be cleaned up.”

Mr Lucas said giving a menu of options would only “add another element of stupidity to the current layers of stupidity”.

The Government faces fierce opposition from Labor, which toyed with the idea of giving ground over Sunday morning trading before later declaring the compromise “dead”.

SA Best said at the election campaign it opposed change.

Independent John Darley has said he had an open mind to the issue but was cooling on the reform idea the more he learned.

The Government needs both Mr Darley and SA Best to deliver change.

However, Mr Lucas said blocked reform could result in a further clampdown on trading.

Soon after the election, he charged SafeWork SA with auditing compliance to the existing regime. Mr Lucas said that inquiry uncovered examples where “a number of stores” were trading outside the existing regulations, and that included “prominent opponents” of reform.

He said that includes shops with large footprints which were opening beyond allowed times.

“If the Parliament ultimately rejects the proposal to fix it up, some of the current trading arrangements will have to be policed,” Mr Lucas said.

“Some existing traders who quite happily are trading outside, we believe, the current provisions ... may not be able to do so.

“If the Parliament decides and the shoppies’ union tells the Labor Party not to allow them to pass it, then we’ll be very happy to campaign on this issue right up until (the) 2022 (election) because then the impacts of the dog’s breakfast legislation will become quite apparent.”

Independent Grocers including Foodland stores have recently launched a campaign against change, claiming deregulation will benefit Coles and Woolworths at the “little guys’” expense.

The Government will introduce the legislation on July 3, meaning it is possible a final vote on the proposal will be delayed through the winter break and to after September’s State Budget.

In the election campaign, Premier Steven Marshall released a plan for the first 100 days of government that promised to “hit the ground running”.

It said the Government would “introduce legislation to remove restrictions on shop trading hours” in that time.

Treasurer Rob Lucas described the current legislation as a “complete dog’s breakfast”. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz

Upper House Opposition Leader Kyam Maher said the government has had plenty of time to introduce the legislation his party has fiercely opposed.

Mr Lucas conceded the Government would miss its own deadline.

“It will be just after 100 days in terms of the introduction,” Mr Lucas said.

“We don’t think, in the greater scheme of things, (in) the court of public opinion (it) is going to matter too much whether its 100 days or 103 days. It’ll be there.”

He said delays were due to complexities in drafting the law and defining which shops could open during remaining restrictions on Good Friday, Christmas Day and Anzac morning.

Upper House Opposition Leader Kyam Maher said it was a clear broken promise.

“The Liberals were very clear that they would introduce the legislation to change shop trading hours within 100 days,” Mr Maher said.

“This is a very clear broken promise from the Liberal Party if they don’t.

“They have had plenty enough time to get something into Parliament.

“This isn’t something they have just thought of after they won the election.

“This was one of their signature policies.”

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