Editorial: Select your own holiday

The laws surrounding Easter trading are "archaic", according to Annemarie Quill.

You cannot help but sympathise with the Tauranga retailers who opened throughout the long weekend.

That's despite the fact we are one of many regions throughout New Zealand where most retailers are not allowed to open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, as part of the Easter Trading Act.

As Kiri Gillespie reports today, The Shop Trading Hours Act 1990 - which stated days that almost all shops must be closed on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Anzac Day until 1pm - was amended in 2016 to enable local authorities to decide whether retailers in their districts can open on Easter Sunday.

The Tauranga City Council put off its decision whether to allow local businesses to legally trade on Easter Sunday until next year.

Mayor Greg Brownless said at the time he did not know why the Government "didn't just decide and the whole country have just one set of rules".

The current scenario is baffling for locals and tourists alike. It is just crazy that shops can be open say in smaller centres like Kawerau but not in a busy beach resort like Tauranga.
Trading laws are completely archaic.

As a tourist region, being closed on public holidays is not serving our visitors well, and local businesses miss out on lucrative trading.

In a multicultural society it doesn't make sense for a government to make a decision about which days are significant for citizens.

The current system favours one religion over others and this is not equitable.

The best solution in my opinion would be to scrap public holidays all together and make employee annual holidays equivalently longer than the current minimum regulations.

Employees could negotiate which days they want off throughout the year, without having holidays enforced on them which they cannot enjoy anyway as shops and services are closed, or the beaches and roads are too crowded because every other person is also holidaying.