Let our ‘Woolies’ open
Mission Beach plea to end Sunday close
TOURISTS and residents at Mission Beach are being forced to drive a one-hour round-trip to stock up on groceries on Sundays.
Locals are petitioning the Queensland Government to grant Woolworths permission to open on Sundays and public holidays, following the closure of the community’s only independent grocery store in December.
Woolworths — the community’s only supermarket — is restricted from trading on Sundays and public holidays under the government’s Trading (Allowable Hours) Amendment Act.
Mission Beach Community Association secretary Jane Coward has so far gathered more than 1000 signatures for her e-petition through Queensland Parliament calling attention to the “ridiculous situation” that had emerged following the grocery store closure last year.
She said Sunday was the busiest day of the week for tourists visiting Mission Beach.
“There’s nowhere for them to do their shopping, especially if they’ve got one of those vans, or a mobile home or something,” she said.
“They’ve got to drive all the way to Tully, which is half an hour away. “It’s pretty inconvenient.” She said as the community continued to grow and recover from many years of sluggish growth and cyclones, there needed to be an urgent review of the restrictions on Woolworths’ opening hours.
National Retail Association spokesman Malcolm Cole said the situation in Mission Beach highlighted the constraints the Trading Act placed on regional Queenslanders.
“The State Government tried to fix regional trading hours last year, but it was locked by the hung he said.
“We think it’s time for them to revisit the recommendations on the Mickel report, (for) a gradual shift to Sunday trading across the state.
“This is going to provide choice, competition and employment for regional areas.”
A Woolworths spokeswoman said the company welcomed the general liberalisation of trading hours as it believed it would provide customers with greater choice and convenience. parliament,”