Shopping hours in Adelaide will be extended and some restrictions removed under laws being introduced to the state parliament.
SA Treasurer Rob Lucas said the Marshall government’s deregulation policy will deliver long-awaited freedom of choice to consumers, traders and employees.
“Quite frankly, it’s absurd – in this day and age – that you can buy products online 24-hours a day but you can’t open some supermarket at 9am on a Sunday,” Mr Lucas said on Tuesday.
He said deregulation had already been working successfully in regional South Australia for several years.
“It doesn’t make any sense that you can buy a box of chocolates at 9.30pm on a Friday night in Mount Barker, but travel up the road to Stirling and that same shop would be forced to close,” he said.
“Why shouldn’t retailers and customers in metropolitan Adelaide also be given the same choice?”
Deregulation legislation was one of the commitments in the new Liberal government’s plan for its first 100 days in office.
The bill is expected to meet some resistance in the state’s upper house, with SA-BEST MP Frank Pangallo declaring he and colleague Connie Bonaros were unlikely to support the changes.
AAP
