Shop Trading Bill 2008
Objectives:
The Shop Trading Bill 2008 deregulates shop trading hours while still restricting trading on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day morning, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The bill provides exemptions even for the restricted trading days for certain small shops, repeals the Shops and Industries Act 1962 and transfers provisions relating to weekday and weekend trading by banks to other Acts.
Comment:
In 1855, when a bill restricting Sunday trading was being considered by the English Parliament, the working classes rioted. They were furious that their prized one day off per week, when they could shop and attend entertaining events, was going to be taken away from them. It was an apparent effort on the part of the establishment to force them to attend church services. They pointed out that the wealthy classes, which passed the bill, were not affected and could do whatever they wanted with their Sundays. The English rioters would have appreciated this bill, which seeks to keep shops open, rather than closed, on Sundays.
Times change. The bill deregulates almost all the old restrictions that control when shops can open. Supporters claim that the bill will get rid of needless red tape and allow retailers to set hours in accordance with market demand, except for the most significant traditional public holidays. They argue that exemptions to trading restrictions have been granted for shops in almost 70 per cent of the New South Wales local government areas, and that the bill reflects the change in society over the past 50 years since the Shops and Industries Act 1962 came into effect. Almost every organised human society has had regular days off. Today societies all over the world have a day that perhaps was originally reserved for religious observance but now is set aside to help structure shared social life. Whether it is Fridays throughout the entire Muslim world, Saturdays in the Jewish world or Sundays in the Christian world, there have always been days set aside when the demands of the marketplace do not make a valid claim on us. The weekly observance of the Christian Sunday may no longer be shared by many in the multicultural Australian community, but the need for a shared day away from the demands of business to spend with the family still exists.
We are not asking people to “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy”—which, the previous speaker will note, was one of the Jewish commandments as well as historically being part of the Christian tradition, especially among Scottish Christians, or Presbyterians—but something from the same world view that applies to everybody. The need for humans to have opportunity for rest and recreation, as was argued so well by the Australian Labor Party in its historic Eight Hour Day legislation, is still valid today. With the stress of modern life, it is more important than ever to hang on to every opportunity for rest and relaxation. We are asking that human beings not be defined as consumers, businesses, or individuals whose every desire demands instant gratification, and that the wording does not try to make it sound reasonable by terming it “choice”. We reject that world view and the definition of humans as merely economic units.
We believe, rather, that our Creator makes us for the purpose of relationships: relationships with our community, with our nuclear and extended families, with His creation, and with Him. We meet the demands of the external world on five or six days of the week with duty and responsibility—where do people think the term “Protestant Work Ethic” comes from? But the seventh day belongs to us, to our families and to whatever meaning we wish to give it—away from the demands of the outer world. Whether we want to attend worship services, take our family to the zoo, play sport, see a play or visit our relatives, that time is our own. We must acknowledge and respect the basic human rhythm. People can give and give, but then they need the time to recharge and rest. Human beings are not machines: we are not running in the same gear 24/7—we are vulnerable creatures. Society and the marketplace seem to have lost sight of, and respect for, that basic human need.
When people demand choice about when they are able to shop, I ask “whose choice”? The person who has to work on a Sunday who would rather be home with his or her family, but cannot afford to say no? It should be remembered that we are discussing an issue concerning the least skilled and least specialised workers: those who are required to work in shops on Sunday. Is there a social justice aspect to the question that we have not considered? Do such workers desperate for part-time hours have the right or ability to turn down work on Sundays? We are not talking about judges, lawyers, surgeons or scientists; we are talking about shop clerks. These jobs are filled mostly by working-class women who are helping their husbands support their young families, young people, and people either at the beginning of their work lives or at the end of their work lives. These are not people at the upper end of the social ladder.
I note that the bill provides for staff to be employed on Sundays supposedly without coercion, harassment, threat or intimidation by the owner or occupier of the shop or lessees in a shopping complex. But who is fooling whom? When the power imbalance is so striking, what employee or lessee would be foolish enough to say no? Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party was voted into Federal Government on the strength of its pitch to the voters of being committed to “helping working families”. How does this legislation contribute to that promise? If mothers and fathers cannot spend the weekends with each other and their families because of their conflicting work schedules that is a serious step backward for the working families of New South Wales.
For decades there has been increasing concern about the loss of community in our modern society being one reason for the rise in shocking antisocial behaviour. One aspect of community is people having the same days off to share activities and have the opportunity to participate in celebrations of shared values. Such occasions help to create and cement bonds and to reinforce our interdependence; they are opportunities to make our communal life more harmonious. If we are all to go our separate ways 24 hours a day 7 days a week there will be no time for communal sharing of anything. This would be a huge loss psychologically, socially and emotionally, and to our sense of belonging to a society. If we share nothing of value we are not a functional society or people. Changing the rhythms and structures of society is very serious, and it must be reflected upon.
If Sunday is just the same as any other day, would members of this House be willing to come to work on a Sunday? It would seem to make more sense than working until 3.30 in the morning during the week. If members accept this principle, why not work on Sunday? A large number of bills and private members’ business items are currently before the House. Are we prepared to work on those on a Sunday? Why do we not all come back this Sunday, for example, and discuss the urgent business of Parliament? I guess not many of us would like that idea. And why not? Because we are not shop clerks; we are not the pushed around and poor people within the community. We believe we deserve a day of rest: a day when we can put our private lives and our families ahead of our work and the time we spend in this Chamber—a well earned day away from here. Everyone else who has a job deserves that right too. After all, the Jewish Old Testament records that even our Creator rested on the seventh day after six days of work.
Conclusion:
Because of the negative impact of the bill on the community, working families and individuals, I cannot in good faith support it.
