A COMMISSION to decide if you can shop at a retail giant on Sundays in Mount Isa begins today.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The result of the commission may not be made until March.
A push for and against the decision is defended by two associations who are not Mount Isa based.
The National Retail Association filed for the commission in the hope Sunday trading will be approved, but the Masters Grocers Australia is against it.
The three-day Queensland Industrial Relations Commission will be led by the commission’s deputy president D.A. Swan.
If Ms Swan decides seven-day trading is a benefit to the community then Coles and Woolworths could be open from 9am to 6pm on Sundays.
Commerce North West is listed as a witness for the NRA, which means it will be heard on the issue during the commission.
The chamber’s president Travis Crowther said last week he was unsure if it will be heard on the matter as it did not want to be a witness for the NRA.
“We are only wanting to represent our members,” Mr Crowther said.
The chamber voted on August 18 to decide its view and the result was 16-13 that it supported Sunday trading.
NRA chief executive Trevor Evans said the commission’s result will unlikely be made for three to four months, judging by his experience in similar matters. He said judging by the time allocated for the commission there could be between a dozen to two dozen witnesses.
The NRA will have between five to 10 witnesses speaking at the commission, Mr Evans said.
Mr Evans said the association made the application because it gauged an interest for Sunday shopping from the community’s businesses and residential community.
It gauged this interest through polls and consulting with businesses that needed to supply customers their wants and needs.
However, the NRA was on the fence when it came to the views for Sunday trading, as the application was not a “full deregulation” of trading hours.
There could be other groups who wanted retail stores to trade for longer or less hours than the NRA applied for, Mr Evans said.
MGA legal councillor David Sztrajt will be at the hearing today.
He said MGA supported locally owned stores which would be negatively impacted by the decision.
MGA was giving these stores the opportunity to have their views heard in the commission, Mr Sztrajt said.
“We’ve been working on this for a long time,” he said.
Mr Sztrajt said after consulting with these stores it was MGA’s position seven day trading could increase the amount of shops closing in Mount Isa.
MGA believed that local stores across Australia were closing with further control from supermarket giants.