MPs to vote on Easter shop trading today

A fresh attempt is being made to reform Easter shop trading hours, but there is disagreement over whether stores should open on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

MPs are due to vote today on a member's bill which would allow a city or district council to decide if local shops could open on Easter Sunday.

The bill is being promoted by Labour's Rotorua MP, Steve Chadwick, who said yesterday that she was confident of getting enough support to send the bill to a select committee.

Present laws allow shops in some areas to open on Easter Sunday, but Rotorua is not one of them, and cannot be added to the list.

Easter trading laws have come under the microscope several times in recent years, and five attempts have been made since 1990 to amend them.

Only one has been successful: a move in 2001 to allow garden centres to open on Easter Sunday.

Controversy erupts each year as some retailers defy restrictions and Department of Labour inspectors try to catch them.

Mrs Chadwick has narrowly failed before to reform shop trading hours, narrowly losing a conscience vote in Parliament. She said yesterday that one of the reasons for the earlier loss was that the previous bill pushed for trading on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

She has since learned that many people "only had the stomach" to allow trading on Easter Sunday.

A separate bill is already before a select committee, seeking to allow trading on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The member's bill, promoted by National MP Jacqui Dean, would allow shops in communities with a "significant visitor industry" to open on both days.

At the moment the only communities listed are Wanaka and Tauranga, but Ms Dean said other areas could be added if they wanted to be.

The National MP's bill passed its first reading by 73 votes to 41 and both Easter trading reform bills could end up being considered at the same time.

Ms Dean said retailers want to be able to trade on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

A difference between the two bills is that Mrs Chadwick's includes a clause which gives workers the right to choose whether they want to work on Easter Sunday.

Both MPs agree that Easter trading was a difficult issue.

"It's something that's time has come," Mrs Chadwick said. "Colleagues are saying they're getting really tired of taking up debating time on this."