EDITORIAL - Easter laws remain an unholy mess

LOUIS PIERARD
ONE reality of Easter in New Zealand is that it has become as notable for the annual contest of shoppers and shopkeepers versus the churches and the unions as for its religious observances.
It is not hard to understand why the trading laws are in such an unholy mess. Compromise and wilful neglect by parliamentarians too timid to tackle the Easter holiday, shopping and sale of liquor laws have ensured the most confusing of all outcomes - a ban on Easter Sunday trading but with an extensive list of exceptions.
There is a host of bizarre anomalies. Some towns are able to trade because they are tourist destinations; others that wish to, can't. There is inconsistency over what constitutes "essential supplies" and about who should be selling them. An amendment to the Trading Hours Act in 1990 allowed retailers to open up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The only exception was the requirement to close on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and the morning of Anzac Day. Since 2000, garden centres have been permitted to open on Easter Sunday but not on Good Friday. That unexplained about-face sustains defiance by garden centres that flout the Good Friday ban.
Last year a bill that would have allowed local councils to decide whether shops in their areas should be able to open on Easter Sunday was defeated, as was an earlier bill that would have allowed all shops throughout the country to open on Easter Sunday. Justice Minister Annette King and Labour Minister Trevor Mallard subsequently released a discussion document on options for Easter trading, inviting public input into the review. One option to address inconsistencies in the law was to remove trading restrictions and make the day a full public holiday - increasing the number of public holidays to 12.
Despite a lengthy submission process, the Government has shown no inclination to move on the matter in an election year. Once again the inspectors will be out issuing $1000 fines to retailers, who will have weighed up the cost of offending laws (so hopeless they cannot demand respect) against the profits that come from breaking them.
The urge for the laws to be addressed is interpreted by churches and unions - who fear that if Easter Sunday goes, so will Good Friday, Christmas and Anzac Day morning - as pressure by all retailers for unfettered trading.
However, there is little doubt many small businesses, whose owners work year-round, are glad of the Easter break and that all they want is fairness and clarity, which their elected representatives are not prepared to give them.