Should Western Australia have extended trading hours?

[Darren]

A topical, if parochial, one - should WA have extended trading hours (shops open till 9pm weeknights)?

[jono]

ken oath we should.
at least wednesday and thursday nights anyways if they want to compromise on it.
not that it'll matter. the vote in the senate later this week will be defeated

[Darren]

It had already been pulled I thought?

[JediKnight]

Should be allowed to be open whenever & wherever they like....anything less is a restriction of trade.

[Swee_82]

Deregulate and let business owners decide if it's appropriate for them to stay open.

As Colin Barnett said today: "Sorry, Perth closed"

On another note- I was surprised to find out that the current rules don't apply outside the Metro area. How do they sustain "quality WA life" out there?

[welshrugbyfan]

What do you people think it's 2009 or something, next you'll all want daylight savings.

Seriously though we should go back to the horse and cart in WA as we are not really moving forwards anyway.

[jono]

It had already been pulled I thought?

according to perthnow an hour or so ago. the govt was still taking it to a vote in parliment later this week.

[tragic]

I don't think WA and Perth (they seem to have different laws) should have extended trading hours.

They should have DEREGULATED trading hours.

[James]

It depends entirely on what you want the extended trading for. Absolutely no way should Coles and Woolworths be extended.

One thing that is quite important, in my opinion, in Australian society is the idea of labour unions and looking after each other as much as you look after yourself. I think the minute you turn your back on the smaller businesses like the corner shop or the independent supermarkets you give a monopoly (or duopoly whatever) to Coles and Woolworths. Sure it may be cheaper but its also less money going back into the local economy. We'd get to the point where pretty much noone could compete in a meaningful way and your only real choice is between those two. Reduced trading hours for the big companies helps out the local competition and that is something that should be encouraged. Who cares if something is a restriction of trade or not? The ARU disallowing foreign S14 imports is a restriction of trade but does that mean its wrong? Absolutely not. It ensures the strength of Australian rugby. Just like restricting trade on supermarkets/multi-national corporations ensures the strength of local business and local industries.

Allowing extended trading for clothes/jewellery shopping etc seems fine though as it encourages a bit of non-alcohol related nightlife in the city. I suppose it would depend on which stores wanted to open.

[jono]

would that work though? most of the supermarkets in wa are pretty much built around a coles/wollies. and they pay the most rent. imagine the shit that they would raise if they were paying higher rental costs (because the rent would inevitably rise) when they are not allowed to trade

[travelling_gerry]

So at present we have a monopoly (IGA) able to open after hours.

So enabling more to open is bad??

[blueandblack]

I think 8pm is a suitable closing time but if its 9pm thats okay by me. 7pm isnt worth it. I'm okay with Sunday trading as it is (at least for groceries and the like in my area anyway).

---------- Post added at 20:42 ---------- Previous post was at 20:40 ----------

So at present we have a monopoly (IGA) able to open after hours.

So enabling more to open is bad??

I think they follow the Retail Trading Act for that. iirc if a store has 10 or less staff they can open out of normal hours. This is why the IGA stores have long queues.

[tragic]

would that work though? most of the supermarkets in wa are pretty much built around a coles/wollies. and they pay the most rent. imagine the shit that they would raise if they were paying higher rental costs (because the rent would inevitably rise) when they are not allowed to trade

jono, the reason why Aldi and other retailers (including grocers) have not extended into WA is due to the restrictions here. If we opened it up, you'd find that we wouldn't be a two horse town, and "little" (HA! that's a good one) guys like IGA would have to stop ripping people off. Along with deregulation comes the legislation to stop retail premises owners dictating when tenants may and may not open (which they can do at present).

How on earth do you think this works elsewhere in the world? Towns of only 100K have 24 hr shopping.

[travelling_gerry]

The idea that Coles and Woolies have a huge market share is a crock.

[brokendown gunfighter]

Im for completely deregulated shopping hours.