A TWO-DAY commission into whether retail giants should trade on Sundays in Mount Isa is completed, with a decision to be made by Industrial Relations Commissioner Deirdre Swan.
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Ms Swan said she would make her decision within weeks of receiving final submissions from the National Retail Association and from Master Grocers Australia.
The Mount Isa community expected the matter to be resolved quickly, Ms Swan said.
NRA senior industrial advocate Jacques Franken said the submissions could be delayed by the Christmas season.
Representatives from Woolworths, Kmart, the NRA and small business owners in Mount Isa were witnesses during the commission.
It was heard at the commission that Mount Isa was one of the few locations in the state where larger businesses cannot trade on Sundays.
Only one Queensland Kmart store cannot trade on Sundays, and it is in Mount Isa, said Kmart national facilities and compliance manager Charles Hammersla, who was cross-examined as a witness yesterday.
NRA manager of industry policy David Stout – a witness in Monday’s session – told The North West Star that Mount Isa’s Coles was one of six in Queensland unable to trade more than six days a week, with other stores including Warwick, Dalby and Goondiwindi.
Four stores in Western Australia brought the tally to 10 Coles stores trading six days a week across Australia, he said. The commission heard a recent survey by the Queensland University of Technology was conducted in Mount Isa, which showed the population favoured Sunday trading.
QUT business lecturer Gary Mortimer said 300 people were surveyed in the Mount Isa Village Shopping Centre, and the Woolworths stores in Isa Street and Abel Smith Parade.
Dr Mortimer said the university was asked by the National Retail Association to conduct the survey. Locations were chosen because they had a larger number of pedestrian traffic, he said.
Results showed 72 per cent of people would not change shopping behaviours if larger stores were able to open Sundays, Dr Mortimer said.
Mr Franken interpreted the result to mean they would not stop shopping at small businesses if larger stores opened Sunday.
He said 71 per cent supported Sunday trading, and 96 per cent of people surveyed were residents of Mount Isa.
Colonial Market owner Bob Burow believed it was a “poor reflection” that the survey data was gathered only in front of larger stores like the Mount Isa Village Shopping Centre.
There could have been a different statistical result if the survey was also conducted at his convenience store’s car park, he said while a witness at the commission.
