The current law restricts shops from trading on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. That law – the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act 1990 – specifies three and a half days each year on which most New Zealand retailers must close – Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and until 1pm on Anzac Day.

However, the Act does allow certain types of shops to remain open on restricted days. These are shops whose main purpose is to provide essential supplies in quantities which people in the area or travelling through may need. This all seems pretty straight forward but when you take a closer look at the ‘rules’ that decide if a shop can be open or not on one of these sacred days there seems to be a few anomalies thrown into the mix:

• Bizarrely, real estate agencies are not affected by the Act and are allowed to be operate under normal working hours on any of the aforementioned days.
• Even more bizarrely, garden centres are graced with the privilege of the option to be open on Easter Sunday, though I struggle to see how compost and pot plants can be argued as “essential supplies”
• Even more bizarrely again, a limited number of (tourist) areas, such as Taupo and Queenstown are covered by exemptions to the trading restrictions. Or in plain language, different rules again apply to these ‘tourist’ areas compared to the rest of the country.

By the Green Party’s count, there has been something like eight Members’ Bills before the House since 1996 proposing to amend the Shop Trading Hours Act to allow trading on the ‘potentially profitable’ Easter Sunday.  Many arguments have been put forward to support or oppose certain shops being open on these restricted days; religious reasons (from Christians and non-Christians) and the bottom line seem to be recurring points raised. However, Green Party Policy (which may be unpopular with some shop owners and customers) is that each of these days shielded by the Act should remain.  Protecting these holidays ensures that workers get at least some free time with their family and friends. Good Friday and Easter Sunday, for some, are two of the three and a half days of the year when family life cannot be impinged upon by work commitments or a commitment to consumerism.

David Clendon MP clearly outlines the Green Party’s arguments on this issue in the First Reading of the Shop Trading Hours Act 1990 Repeal (Easter Sunday Local Choice) Amendment Bill. 

So, shop owners, retailers, customers, shop workers, what do you think?

Should all shops be allowed to be open over Easter? Or should all shops be forced to close?

Can we survive the whole Easter weekend without access to every commercial outlet?

Should Easter Sunday just be made a public holiday so people who have to work that day get a day in lieu to spend with their families?

Over to you….

It looks much like the last in this sorry list:

• The Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter) Amendment Bill 1996. Defeated
• The Shop Trading Hours (Repeal of Restrictions) Bill 1997. Defeated
• The Shop Trading Hours (Abolition of Restrictions) Bill 1999. Defeated
• The Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill 2002. Defeated
• The Shop Trading Hours (Easter Trading Local Exemption) Bill 2004.  Defeated
• The Easter Sunday Shop Trading Amendment Bill 2006. Defeated
• The Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill 2006. Defeated

Yes, that’s right, no less than seven Bills on Easter Sunday trading introduced variously by National, Labour, and Act MPs over the last 13 years, and all consigned to the dustbin of legislative history.  I hate to think how much Parliamentary time has been wasted in the process.

Here’s an idea.  Instead of attempting to fiddle around with the rules about whether and where shops can open on Easter Sunday, let’s make it a public holiday so  those employees who are already required to work on Easter Sunday can at least get a day in lieu that they can spend with their families.