The National Retail Association (NRA) will today lodge a bid with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission to reduce trading hours zones across south east Queensland.
The NRA will bid to unify 10 separate trading hours time zones between Noosa and Coolangatta and west to Ipswich..
Trevor Evans, CEO of NRA, said the application would seek to create a single south east Queensland zone for trading hours, where stores would be able to open between 7am and 9pm on weekdays and Saturdays.
There would be no changes to Sunday or public holiday trading hours or areas outside the south east.
Smaller stores, and those already exempt from the rules, would also not be affected by the changes.
“If our application were to succeed, the biggest change would be that all residents in south east Queensland would have access to the full range of shops on Saturdays between 5pm and 9pm,” Evans said.
“Currently, some but not all residents, depending on where they live, get to shop on Saturday evenings, whereas others have the doors closed in their faces at 5pm sharp.
“The 5pm close on Saturdays is an old rule that has not been reviewed in 20 years. The world has changed a lot in that time, and we believe the shopping habits of residents in this large metropolitan region have moved on.”
According to NRA, if successful, the application would add $111 million to the Queensland economy, create 1000 new jobs
“Queensland has the most complex trading hours rules in Australia, with 98 pages of legislation, regulations, and instruments, containing over 180 legal obligations and prohibitions. The state currently has 50 different trading hours zones, each with its own different rules.
“In many cases in south east Queensland, retailers operating within walking distance of each other are governed by different trading hours regulation. This application will not only make life easier for shoppers, if it succeeds. It will also simplify operating conditions for business owners, grow Queensland’s trade by $111 million per year, and may start hundreds of new, young workers on the road to a rewarding career.”
