Although 80% of Australians have long had the benefits of 7 day shopping, there are still some places in Australia where people cannot shop on Sundays, namely suburban Perth, most parts of regional Western Australia, and some areas of regional Queensland. People can go to pubs, clubs, cinemas on Sundays but in these areas they cannot shop at their local shopping centre.

The SCCA is committed to the relaxation of trading hours because that is what customers want. In those states and territories with Sunday trading, Sunday has become the second most popular trading day of the week.

Customers are the lifeblood of retailing and the industry must be able to respond to customer preferences about when and where they want to go shopping. We fundamentally believe there is no contemporary justification for governments dictating when a retailer can operate.

We have achieved some major wins on trading hours over the past few years, with Sunday trading introduced in South East Queensland and Tasmania in 2002 and in suburban Adelaide in 2003. As a result of these developments we now have a situation where two States (Victoria and Tasmania) and two Territories have deregulated trading hours. NSW and South Australia have effectively deregulated trading hours, and Queensland has Sunday trading in its most populous area (Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast) and in a limited number of designated tourist areas in regional Queensland.

The following fact sheets address various aspects of the debate on trading hours reform in Western Australia.

Regional Queensland

In regional Queensland, about one-third of Queensland residents cannot shop on Sundays and trading hours anomalies abound (Ipswich can trade on Sundays; Toowoomba cannot; Jimboomba can trade on Sundays; Beaudesert cannot etc.) ‘Escape expenditure’ on Sundays (from towns and cities which cannot trade on Sunday to those that can) is causing significant commercial harm to those towns and cities.

Easter and Anzac Day Trading Hours 2012

Easter Trading Hours 2012 - Queensland

Christmas Trading Hours 2012/2013

The National Retail Association has prepared the  attached guide to allowable hours for non-exempt shops over this period, and this National Summary.

Public Holiday Trading

Some States still restrict trading by large shops on public holidays. This table shows trading hours restrictions around Australia. They range from no restrictions in the two Territories (although shops close voluntarily on Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Anzac Day morning) to SA and WA where trading is prohibited on all public holidays.

The Shopping Centre Council is resolutely determined to maintain its campaign to convince state governments to get rid of these remaining anti-consumer trading hours laws.