Barely a week after Easter, a members' bill calling for the liberalisation of Easter trading laws has been drawn.
ACT MP Cameron Luxton's Repeal of Good Friday and Easter Sunday as Restricted Trading Days (Shop Trading and Sale of Alcohol) Amendment Bill was one of two bills drawn in the ballot today.
The other was Green Party co-leader Marama Davison's Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill.
"ACT has long campaigned against needless and costly legislation," Luxton said after the draw.
"My Member's Bill will remove a burden on businesses by relieving the dumb restrictions on trading on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
"It's quite simple — if you want to trade, you can. That's how a free society should operate. The Bill also looks after workers as it retains the existing employee protections that apply in respect of Easter Sunday and extends these protections to Good Friday."
"It just doesn't make sense that bar staff spend much of Easter telling customers when they can drink, how long they have to drink it, how much they are required to eat, and what they have to eat. How about we start treating adults like adults?"
Good Friday is currently both a public holiday and a restricted trading day. That means the rules for shops are the same as on Christmas Day or ANZAC Day before 1pm.
There are exceptions and exemptions, but for most stores, opening at any time on the day is an offence.
Easter Sunday is not a public holiday but is a restricted trading day, and is also covered by is own specific rules that mean shops can choose to open if their local council lets them. And, again, certain area exemptions apply.
Last month, before Easter and the drawing of the bill, Luxton told 1News: "I'm really hoping the bill can be drawn and progressed through the House so New Zealanders can enjoy Easter the way they want to in 2025."
But unions say a law change means workers lose three-and-a-half days they're guaranteed off — Easter, Christmas Day and the morning of ANZAC Day — and religious leaders said they were saddened by potential changes.
"I guess when I read about this, I groaned. I thought: 'Here we go again'," Bishop of Auckland Stephen Lowe said.
"It's coming up every year, it's coming up every holiday break, but often what we're forgetting about is people and families."
Once a members' bill has been drawn there is no guarantee it will be passed.
The vast majority of members' bills may not make it to law — or even pass their first reading (the first of three votes to progress a bill), to select committee. A government can also veto a members' bill, if, in that their view, the proposal would have "more than a minor impact" on the government's fiscals should it become law.
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