I’m generally pretty hopeless when it comes to shopping for gifts. I leave things to the very last minute, usually with only the very vaguest idea of what I’m actually going to buy. Thankfully Easter isn’t too bad an occasion to shop for — it’s the one time of the year where chocolate is not the gift of last resort. Instead though, we’re left with the ambiguity of when we can actually go and buy it. In some parts of Australia, restrictive trading laws mean shops are closed Friday, Sunday and Monday over the Easter break. Yet in other parts of the country, there are no limits at all on when shops can open their doors. In the absence of uniform national trading laws, Australians are stuck with a mix of state and territory-based regulations that are confusing and unnecessary.
The worst offender is unambiguously Western Australia which is stuck with antiquated trading laws that ensure most stores are closed on Sundays as a matter of standard practice. The Alan Carpenter-led Labor government in WA is vowing to deregulate if it is re-elected when West Australians go to the polls (tipped to be later this year). Yet independent retailers are generally opposed. One of the most bizarre arguments being advanced in opposition to the proposal is that 7-day trading will reduce competition. As many small traders can open on Sundays while major retailers can’t, this claim is not only baseless, but entirely out of kilter with reality. Indeed, it is the current regulations which are anti-competitive, because they discriminate against larger operations and restrict consumer choice.
At the other end of the spectrum, the ACT has perhaps the most relaxed trading laws in the country. Consumers there will face no restrictions at all this Easter, with shops allowed to open Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Tasmania similarly has highly liberalised trading laws, although retailers there are still required to close Good Friday. Occupying the middle ground, Victoria and New South Wales tend to have similar regulations to each other, with trading barred on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In saying this, it is worth noting that New South Wales’ businesses have greater scope for exemptions (stores in Sydney’s CBD, for instance, can open on Sunday). Such exemptions only add to the perplexity. A glance at websites for different retailers reveals a complex array of opening hours during Easter based not just on state but even on city or suburb.
A foundation principle of commercial regulation should be that if businesses are happy to provide a service that consumers are demanding, then government shouldn’t stand in the way. Yet restrictions on trading hours cut against this ideal. While deregulation should not mean that public holidays should be scrapped — that would be an extreme solution, and would disadvantage many Australians working in retail — there should be greater flexibility for businesses to cater to the public’s needs. While Western Australia might be the extreme case, the reality is that too many state governments have got it wrong. It’s time for a national standard that minimises regulatory intervention, and maximises consumer and business freedoms. After all, in a free society with a free market, what could be more fundamental than the right to shop?