Queensland trading hours laws set for revamp, butchers, hardware suppliers to benefit
Posted
Queenslanders will be able to buy bulk meat on Sundays and hardware supplies from 6am Sundays under streamlined new trading hours laws which are to be considered by Cabinet in coming weeks.
An independent review, chaired by former Speaker John Mickel, found opening hours in Queensland were overregulated, complex and costly.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the current arrangements, which prevented some butchers from opening on a Sunday, did not pass the common sense test.
She supported allowing hardware stores to open from 6am on Sunday in the south-east, as they can on other days.
"The review's findings made it very clear that the patch-work of overregulation of trading hours no longer suits our modern lifestyles," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"It makes sense to get in early and buy your timber and paint supplies, especially during our hot summers."
She said all butcher shops and bulk meat retailers should have their trading arrangements aligned with shops selling fish, fruit and vegetables and takeaway food.
Further details of the overhaul could simplify a bewildering variety of trading hours' laws in different parts of the state, such as inconsistencies about when and where large supermarket chains could open longer.
It would also extend to car yards.
"For instance you can currently buy a boat on Sunday, but not a car or a caravan. That's just a nonsense," Ms Palaszczuk said.
The review was set up last year after Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace announced Easter Sunday would be made a new public holiday.
"No workers will be made to work any additional hours, which could result from increased trading hours, unless they have voluntarily agreed to do so," Ms Grace said.
Katter's Australian Party and small business groups warned last year the changes should not allow the supermarket chains to open longer, although they have already been permitted to trade for longer on Saturdays.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, trade, food-and-beverage, government-and-politics, qld
