Trading hours – pursuing fairer trading
A host of trading hour restrictions exist in Australia, most notably in Western Australia and Queensland. These restrictions often illogically discriminate between retailers, allowing some stores to trade when others are strictly prohibited.
ANRA supports the removal of such restrictions to allow all shops to have the option of trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the exception of specified public holidays (such as Christmas Day, Good Friday and the morning of Anzac Day). Similar systems already introduced in the ACT, the Northern Territory and Tasmania have allowed retailers to set their own opening hours in response to business and consumer needs, while also providing greater choice for shoppers.
Sunday is regarded by consumers as just another business day, so they therefore expect to have access to a choice of retail outlets. Retail figures show that up to 20 per cent of weekly trading volume occurs on Sunday. Yet, regulated Sunday trading in some States only benefits a minority of smaller businesses and often results in consumers paying higher prices. Deregulating Sunday trading will bring benefits to retailers large and small.
See the "Public Holiday Trading Restrictions around Australia" Chart. .