Easter trading and greed

Friday 9 April 2004 1:45 PM

In reflecting on the Bracks government's modified Easter retail trading regulations, your editorial (8/4) rightly highlights some striking contradictions and inconsistencies. However some scrutiny of other parties to the controversy would be in order. The loudest cry has been raised by large retailers, and it's worth asking why. In all that has been said in the public debate on this question in the past couple of years, I have heard little to dissuade me from the conclusion that corporate greed is what it's really all about. Is our collective memory so short, or our view so myopic, that we cannot imagine surviving on 364 shopping days per year? Where is the evidence that we suffered as a community prior to 1992 under a 6-day trading week? To a lay perspective at least, it's difficult to recall evidence that we were economically deprived. Home renovation did not seem unduly impacted by the need to plan visits to the hardware store around Sundays. Retail employees and their families were not in the front ranks of those who campaigned for 7-day trading. Am I missing something?