The National Retail Association says it supports the Queensland Government’s call this week for the state parliament to pass its “sensible” reforms to the state’s retail trading laws.
NRA CEO Dominique Lamb says business owners are tired of politicians paying lip service to cutting red tape, but failing to act when the opportunity is presented to them.
“The Queensland parliament is currently considering a range of sensible and modest reforms to retail trading laws which will significantly reduce the red-tape burden on businesses from large to small,” she said.
“These reforms have resulted from an independent and wide-ranging review, and although the NRA would like to see a single set of rules for the entire state, we understand the Government’s reasons for maintaining a number of distinct zones.
“Importantly though, the proposed new laws would significantly streamline and simplify opening and closing times, and drastically reduce the red-tape burden on businesses that trade across various parts of the state.
“These are very sensible reforms that will free up retailers to get on with business and job creation, and they are low-hanging fruit in terms of eradicating red tape.”
Ms Lamb says the changes would not affect existing trading hours in south-east Queensland, and would not introduce Sunday or public-holiday trading into regional towns that did not already have it.
“The laws will simply sort the state into three areas – the south-east, regional and tourist zones – and create common opening and closing hours for businesses in each area,” she said. “They will also simplify the number of retail categories to just two – large businesses that must abide by the trading hours’ restrictions, and small businesses that are free to operate largely as they wish to.”