Churches in New South Wales have urged Premier Barry O’Farrell to guarantee retail trading hours will not be extended to include the public holidays like Boxing Day in an open letter.
The letter is signed by leaders of the Anglican, Uniting, Catholic and Baptist Churches as well as representatives of the Wesley Mission and the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. In it they ask him to guarantee that retail trading hours will not be extended to Boxing Day as well as Christmas Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Rev Dr Ross Clifford, president of the New South Wales Council of Churches, says that the organisation sees the exemptions in place which cover tourist areas and parts of the Sydney CBD as a “sensible compromise”.
“If people are desperate to shop they can avail themselves of these special trading areas on a public holiday,” he says. “But if retail trading hours are deregulated for Boxing Day, employees will need to work on Christmas Day to prepare stores, and that is unacceptable.”
The letter was delivered to Rev Fred Nile, leader of the Christian Democratic Party in the NSW Legislative Council, who said it would personally deliver it to the Premier.
Rev Nile says he remains committed to opposing the O’Farrell Government’s plans to extend retail trading hours to Boxing Day, saying it could lead to the extension of retail trading hours to other public holidays such as Easter Sunday.
The letter comes after reports Josh Frydenberg, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, is seeking to bring public holiday trading in NSW in line with that in other states where Boxing Day is a significant shopping day. He intends raising the issue at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting.
NSW Treasurer Mike Baird has said he is committed to allowing all shops to open on Boxing Day.
The NSW Government introduced a bill to extend retail trading hours in 2012 but later withdrew it due to a lack of support in the Upper House.
