Latest / Best of Business / Francesca Rudkin: We need to simplify Easter trading hours

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Francesca Rudkin: We need to simplify Easter trading hours · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: If you live in a city, There's something quite special
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: about waking up on Good Friday to the sound of silence.
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  Speaker 2: There are no cars on the road. There's no hum
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: of traffic in the distance, no sound of people going
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  Speaker 2: about their day's day routines. My first thought on Friday
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, it's like Christmas Day, and then my
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: second thought was in as present, it's like lockdowns. But
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the feeling was the same. How nice the world is
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: when it pauses for a moment. But as much as
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate these few days a year when many get
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to stop the crazy rush, the shock of block car
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  Speaker 2: parks and the supermarkets on Thursday and Saturday made me
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  Speaker 2: wonder whether it's worth it. We don't seem to be
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: able to cope or prepare for supermarkets to shut. If
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we weren't down on hot Cross Barns, I certainly wouldn't
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: have made the trip to my local. It's lovely having
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Friday and Saturday off, but not if the days around
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  Speaker 2: it an absolute nightmare at the shops. We have been
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  Speaker 2: talking about the inconsistencies and confusion around retail laws over
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  Speaker 2: Easter for as long as I can remember, what is
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  Speaker 2: open and shut depends on where you are in the country,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes where you are in a city, because don't forget
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  Speaker 2: it's the local authority which decides whether stores can open
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  Speaker 2: or not. It depends on what you're selling. There are
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  Speaker 2: strange restrictions on what can be sold, and you must
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  Speaker 2: be selling something that people can't put off buying until
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  Speaker 2: the next day, but you can get a haircut, and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: just to make it even more confusing, the Shop Trading
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Hours Act covers both public holidays and days at aren't
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  Speaker 2: public holidays, such as Easter Sunday, even though we think
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  Speaker 2: of it as a public holiday. I think it's time
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  Speaker 2: to let people decide for themselves how they want to
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  Speaker 2: spend their Easter, whether they open their businesses, work or shop,
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  Speaker 2: or do none of the above and quietly go about
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  Speaker 2: their day. We've been arguing forever the merits of a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: day off and people being able to spend time with
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  Speaker 2: family and friends or business has been able to make
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  Speaker 2: the most of people wanting to spend money and get
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  Speaker 2: jobs done. We have spoken about employees facing pressure from
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  Speaker 2: their employers to work over Easter when they prefer not to,
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  Speaker 2: and how there are plenty of employees who would happily
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  Speaker 2: take the benefits of working a public holiday. And let's
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  Speaker 2: not forget online retailers can sell you whatever they like
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  Speaker 2: on these days. What a minefield of confusion. Let's just
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  Speaker 2: bite the bullet, simplify the laws, make sure employees are protected,
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  Speaker 2: and let businesses decide if they open or not and
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  Speaker 2: get on like it's twenty twenty five and not nineteen ninety.
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  Speaker 2: I'm also pleased that some sense is some common sense
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  Speaker 2: has been shined around the purchase of alcohol over Easter. Labour.
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  Speaker 2: MP Kreen mcinnaughty's build to change rules around alcohol sales
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: on Anzac Day Morning, Good Good Friday, Easter, Sunday and
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  Speaker 2: Christmas was voted through its first reading a week or
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: so ago. He's happy to let Christmas slide by the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: way currently people must order a meal before having an
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  Speaker 2: alcoholic be a regid a restaurant or a pub. Once again,
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  Speaker 2: it's all about simplifying the rules for both hospow tourists
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  Speaker 2: and kiwi's catching up with family and friends at a
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  Speaker 2: restaurant over the holiday period and there are a lot
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  Speaker 2: of businesses who would appreciate it being simpler to make
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  Speaker 2: a buck.
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