Submission November 18th
NZ Chamber of Commerce makes case for easing of Easter shopping
restrictions….
18 November 2005
All 31 New Zealand Chamber supported a remit at this months
National Convention to support changes to Easter shopping
regulations.
The New Zealand Chambers of Commerce followed up by making a
presentation to the Minister of Commerce Lianne Dalziel, who
attended the confrence, by giving total support to a campaign held
through the Wanaka Chamber of Commerce’s business community for an
easing of the Easter shopping restrictions.
The Minister conceded that Wanaka retailers were disadvantaged
in not being able to open over the Easter period, while they could
in nearby Queenstown and other holiday towns such as Russell in the
Bay of Islands.
While Minister Dalziel expressed concern at the direction of
Chamber advocacy for unrestricted shopping hours, she did agreed
that the current arrangements allowing exceptions to some towns and
not others on regulations stating when shops must close was unfair
and inequitable.
I would seem that our key point that ‘there is no level playing
field’ on shopping hours between different cities and towns and
that this needs to be fixed, was sympathetically received by the
Minister
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