Wanaka retailers say they are being unfairly targeted

Department of Labour inspectors were out in force in Wanaka yesterday -- but rebel retailers said it was one of the busiest trading days of the year.

Shop owners are angry that while retailers in nearby Queenstown, a designated "tourist town", are allowed to stay open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday under the Shop Trading Hours Repeal Act, it is illegal for Wanaka outlets to trade.

Easter is the busiest weekend of the year in Wanaka, when the War Birds Over Wanaka vintage aircraft festival attracts about 100,000 people to the town.

Paper Plus owner Brian Kreft said Wanaka retailers were being unfairly targeted by the inspectors and he planned to fight the charges if prosecuted again.

"Wanaka has got to stand up for itself, because there is no question that we are the focus of their the Labour Department's attention," he told the Otago Daily Times.

The Department of Labour visited 12 stores in Wanaka and the surrounding area yesterday, twice the number in Wellington and just one fewer than in Auckland.

Labour Department investigators visited 41 retailers and markets around the country yesterday, following 26 visits on Good Friday, to check shop trading law compliance.

The Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act 1990 specifies three and a half days each year on which most shops must close -- Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, and until 1pm on Anzac Day.

Retailers prosecuted under the legislation face a maximum fine of $1000.

Since 1990 five attempts have been made to introduce bills to amend shop trading legislation. The only one to become law was a 2001 amendment which allowed garden centres to trade on Easter Sunday.

Two bills aimed at amending shop trading laws, drafted by Rotorua Labour MP Steve Chadwick and Otago National MP Jacqui Dean, have yet to be drawn in a parliamentary ballot.

- NZPA