Push on penalty rates

Advance Cairns hopes to capitalise on trading hours

ADVANCE Cairns wants changes to labour contracts and employment awards to help capitalise on trading hours reforms.

New laws passed in State Parliament on Tuesday night mean Cairns shoppers will soon benefit from the same trading hours as southeast Queensland and other tourist areas.

Supermarkets will open longer, butchers will open whenever they wish, hardware stores will trade from 6am every weekend, shops will open on Easter Sunday and extended trading in the lead-up to Christmas will be guaranteed.

Businesses will be able to apply for 24-hour trading during special events like next year’s Commonwealth Games, during which Cairns will host the basketball rounds.

But car and caravan dealers will remain closed on Sundays after they argued against changes.

The laws are expected to be enacted within weeks.

Advance Cairns chief executive Kevin Byrne welcomed the changes.

“This is a great outcome for the region and at last we are moving into the modern world when it comes to shopping hours,” he said.

“This is a long overdue reform that is certainly needed in modern communities that are heavily reliant on tourism and Cairns is no exception. Many of us have been calling for this for years and at long last there is transparency and certainty.

“We have a 24-hour airport and we need a service-focused city so we can cater for visitors.”

And he argued employee penalty rates needed to go.

“Hopefully we can use this outcome to encourage further reforms and flexibility to the labour market,” he said.

“It is one thing to provide this flexibility in retail hours but it has to be matched with reform in employment awards. We need to abolish the penalty rates provisions in the award and allow for more flexibility in workplace agreements.”