This petition calls for the South Australian Parliament to recognize the value of retail workers and small businesses in our community, and end all efforts to deregulate shop trading hours in our state.

The South Australian Liberal Government has repeatedly introduced laws into Parliament seeking to enforce complete deregulation. This has the potential to destroy many small family-owned retailers and independent suppliers, while simultaneously strengthening the bargaining power of the big end of town. This would be disastrous for retail workers in South Australia.

Under our current laws, shops smaller than a certain trading area are allowed to choose their own opening times, while larger stores can open until 9pm on weekdays, 5pm on Saturdays and 5pm on Sundays. There are also trading restrictions for public holidays.

The current shop trading laws allow small stores, including many mum-and-dad operators, to open late on weekends and public holidays, knowing they aren't competing with the big end of town. Workers at big stores like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi can enjoy valuable time off on their weekends and public holidays, allowing them to relax and have a life outside work.

The current laws enable many local SA businesses to stay viable. The extra foot traffic on weekends and public holidays is crucial to keeping the doors open at many independent retailers. In turn, the viability of those smaller retailers is critical to the survival of many local suppliers, which themselves employ hundreds of hardworking South Australians. 

The experience of other states is that if the Liberals succeed in passing the shop trading deregulation Bill, much of our local retail sector would be destroyed. Many retail workers would be out of work and consumers would be faced with less choice. Retail workers would also have to choose between working non-traditional hours for the surviving retailers or leaving the industry due to the changes in work-life balance.

We, the people of South Australia, will not back down. We value our small businesses. We value retail workers and we value Australian-owned suppliers.

Hands off our shop trading hours!

References:

https://indaily.com.au/news/2021/05/11/doors-likely-to-shut-on-shopping-hours-referendum/

https://indaily.com.au/news/local/2019/12/20/labor-puts-sunday-morning-trading-back-on-table/

https://indaily.com.au/news/2021/08/26/what-we-know-today-thursday-august-26/?scrollTo=shop&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=InDaily%20Express%20%2026%20August%202021&utm_content=InDaily%20Express%20%2026%20August%202021+CID_c2f1086f504e9ffb7cd20b2e1c3effd2&utm_source=EDM&utm_term=READ%20MORE#shop