August 23, 2017
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington says the LNP has backed South Burnett jobs and small businesses after the party forced the State Government to amend its proposed trading hour reforms.
Mrs Frecklington said Labor’s laws were poorly drafted and would have led to price hikes for South Burnett shoppers, less job security and less opportunities for young people to get a job.
The latest version of the law – passed by State Parliament on Tuesday night – should mean no changes in the South Burnett.
“We stood up for small business and their employees in the South Burnett and across regional Queensland to ensure they received a better deal under Labor’s proposed trading hour changes,” Mrs Frecklington said.
Mrs Frecklington mentioned Bill Hull Car Centre, Ken Mills Toyota, Airds Hardware and SupaIGA in her speech to Parliament (see below).
“This was about standing up for the little guy, supporting independent retailers and promoting competition to keep a lid on prices for customers,” she said.
“Until the LNP intervened, regional communities were being treated as second-rate citizens by a Brisbane-centric Labor Government.
“The LNP has protected local jobs and delivered trading hours certainty for Queensland small business.
“Up until now larger retailers have used the opportunity to regularly seek changes to trading hours by making application to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission – a costly process out of reach for many small businesses.
“Our amendments lock in trading hours for each part of Queensland for the next five years, taking away a major business uncertainty for smaller operators.”
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The key changes to the Trading (Allowable Hours) Amendment Bill 2017 are:
- Trading hours for large non-exempt shops are 7:00am to 9:00pm Monday to Saturday in south-east Queensland (Exempt shops are listed in the Act, and include businesses such as newsagents, chemists, service stations, antique shops and cafes)
- Outside the south-east, trading hours for non-exempt shops are Monday to Friday 8:00am to 9:00pm, Saturday 8:00am to 6:00pm, Sunday and most public holidays 9:00am to 6:00pm (Townsville Tourist Area retains its current 7:00am opening time on Monday to Friday)
- Regional towns that do not currently have Sunday and public holiday trading for non-exempt shops will remain that way
- Trading hours for non-exempt shops on Sunday and most public holidays, other than in the defined tourist areas, will be standardised across Queensland from 9:00am to 6:00pm
- The public holidays which will be treated as closed days for all non-exempt shops in Queensland are Good Friday, Anzac Day, Labour Day and Christmas Day
- Special tourist areas such as the Cairns CBD and the Gold Coast Coastal Tourist Area will have access to extended trading hours for non-exempt shops that meet the needs of domestic and international visitors
- Special trading hours’ applications can be made for extended trading around major events, such as next year’s Commonwealth Games
- Trading hours’ restrictions for butcher shops, special exhibitions and trade shows have been removed
- All hardware stores can open from 6:00am, seven days a week
- Extended trading hours will apply in the period leading up to Christmas for non-exempt shops in all areas of the State, with trading to close from 6:00pm on Christmas Eve to allow retail workers to go home and be with their families and friends
- Independent retail shops can employ more staff without being subject to the trading restrictions of non-exempt shops, by increasing the employment threshold from 20 to 30 employees on the floor at any one time, and from 60 to 100 where a number of related shops are operated
- Motor vehicle and caravan retailers retain their existing trading hours’ arrangements
- Protections for retail workers make it an offence for an employer to require an employee to work the extended trading hours unless the employee has freely elected to do so
- A five-year moratorium on further trading hours’ applications to extend the allowable trading hours for non-exempt shops (which will provide a period of stability and certainty for all parties and put a temporary end to the ongoing process and costs involved with retail organisations applying to the QIRC for trading hours’ orders)
- A review of the new trading hours’ arrangements will be completed prior to the end of the moratorium period
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Mrs Frecklington’s speech (from Hansard)
As soon as this Bill was brought before the House I received correspondence from two of the major motor dealers in my electorate: Bill Hull Car Centre and Ken Mills Toyota.
Jacqui Trace, of Bill Hull Car Centre, wrote to me and said:
Deb, we are concerned about the recommendations from the trading hours review that will directly impact our business.
It goes on:
The change to trading hours will not increase business. The same number of vehicles will be spread over a seven-day period, having a direct impact on our operating costs, which will ultimately impact the consumer.
Ken Mills, of Ken Mills Toyota, wrote to me and said:
Most rural retailers would oppose the proposed Sunday trading. While it may work for tourism type business, it is our feeling that it would be detrimental to most business types.
The Labor Government has no idea in this space. It brought flawed legislation before this House that would have significantly impacted the retailers in the motor vehicle, caravan, motorcycle and farm machinery sector.
It took the LNP Opposition to voice serious concerns about the potential negative outcomes for this industry to ensure the exclusion of motor and caravan dealers from the legislation.
It took months of active campaigning by the Motor Trades Association and a large volume of submissions from business owners just like Jacqui Trace and Ken Mills to try to have their voices heard by this Labor Government.
I congratulate all these groups and small business owners on their work but it should never have been necessary in the first place.
Why waste everyone’s time? Why would the Labor Government put these businesses through the stress and worry? It simply does not make sense.
The legislation that sits before the House that the committee had an opportunity to look at will still negatively impact many other small businesses and independent retailers across rural and regional Queensland in particular.
Let me talk about IGA Kingaroy and Yarraman owner John Hyslop and Kilcoy IGA owner Grant Prince, who explained to me that this bill will reduce employment in regional Queensland.
This is a fact that they, the business owners themselves, have observed from the viewpoint of independent retailers following deregulation of trading hours in South-East Queensland.
I have received correspondence and met with Roz White from White’s IGA Maroochydore.
She wrote to me expressing opposition to the Bill. She explained that small independent retailers generate hundreds of millions of dollars into the Queensland economy, but the government has ignored evidence that deregulation leads to less employment.
Let us not forget the negative impact this Bill will have on small hardware stores — stores like the great Aird’s Hardware in the main street in Nanango owned by dedicated, passionate locals Steve and Robert Aird.
Previously large hardware businesses have been restricted to operating from 9:00am on a Sunday, while smaller independent operators could open earlier if desired.
Hardware Australia has pointed out that this legislation presumes that allowing small hardware businesses to open from 6:00am will generate more sales. This is unproven and generally unfair. The cost to these small businesses would be additional wages and staff required to work the longer hours which ultimately could force small hardware stores to close on Sundays due to it simply being unviable.
I also quote from a statement from the MGA Independent Retailers group that states:
Regional Queensland does not want a Brisbane-based solution forced upon them. They are much more concerned about maintaining real competition, real choice and keeping local jobs.
I understand that the Minister has now circulated some 32 amendments to try to fix and tidy up her mess.
She should have done that the first time and saved everyone a whole lot of time, money and heartache. It is another embarrassment from another failed Minister of this Palaszczuk government who espoused the virtues of these reforms but could not get the committee’s support for the Bill.
The Minister claims that the amendments implement important reform measures to support up to an additional 1000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
One would have to ask if those amendments moved today by the Minister were so great why are they only being rushed in as part of a last-minute attempt by the Minister to save face?
I again note that the committee could not agree to pass this Bill as it sat before them. Even government members could not agree to the changes to their own Bill.
I support the local motor dealers that I have spoken about – Jacqui Trace, a hardworking local businesswoman in the town of Kingaroy, and Ken Mills, a hardworking local businessman and employer of so many people in the townships of Mundubbera, Kingaroy and also the Sunny Coast.
These are people who are voicing their concerns on behalf of rural and regional Queensland.
It is embarrassing that this Labor government needs to be forced into the changes because of the hard work of the LNP opposition. I congratulate and thank all of my colleagues on this side of the House for fighting so hard for these small businesses who represent the backbone of rural and regional Queensland.
