Column: Leave Easter opening to owner's conscience

No wonder Rotorua retailers were rubbing their hands together with glee during the Easter weekend.
Despite having to close, by law, on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day morning, shops were busy during the weekend, with some describing it as "better than Christmas".
Did the closures send the public into a spin - panicking them into the central business district as soon as stores reopened their doors? Or did the rotten weather drive them into shops and out of the rain?
Whatever the reason, retailers will be counting their cash and their blessings ... and imagining how much more they could have sold if they had been allowed to open all weekend.
Everybody is familiar with the arguments for and against repealing Easter trading laws - the sanctity of the religious holidays, the need for some sacrosanct family time, the increasing pressure on shop owners to stay open every hour of every day, the freedom of owners to open if and when they want to and the need to meet tourist expectations.
Yet nothing has changed, despite the frequency with which this old chestnut is roasted.
Our current Rotorua MP, National's Todd McClay and his predecessor, Labour list MP Steve Chadwick, have both taken runs at this issue, trying to introduce law changes. Then Jaqui Dean had a go and now Tau Henare is taking a bash at it.
This is a "conscience vote" - MPs are theoretically able to vote as their religious beliefs and consciences direct them. Despite this, National MPs inevitably vote against bills introduced by Labour and vice versa and nothing ever gets passed.
Why are politicians given the freedom, however tenuous this may be, to make their own decisions on this issue, when business owners are not?
If Easter trading is, truly, a conscience matter, retailers should also be given the opportunity to decide whether they open or not based on their religious beliefs and conscience.
In a multicultural and multi-faith nation, why are all shop owners forced to close on one faith's important dates and to work on their own?
Yes, there is the issue of pressure being brought to bear on staff wishing to observe the holy days. But if politicians can be convinced to allow business owners the choice to open or not, surely business owners could be persuaded to give their employees the choice to work or not.
- Julie Taylor is the business editor at The Daily Post