City Heart Management Committee and City Heart Association, Rockhampton v Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (Queensland Branch) Union of Employees [1994] QIRC 62 (1994) 145 QGIG 631

630 QU EE NS LAND GOV ERNM ENT IN DU STRIAL GA ZETT E [ 18 M arch, 1994 18 March, 1994J Q UE EN SLAND GOVE RNMENT CND US TRlAL GAZETTE 63 1 ######## ############################################ QUEEN~LANO INDUSTRIA L RELATION S COMMISSIO INDUSl RIAL REI ATIO NS ACT 1990 Trading Hours Aa 1990 s. 5 I - application for trading hours vana11on City H ea rl M anagemen t Commiuee and City Heart Associat ion. Rockhampton AND Shop, D1s trib ut1ve an d All i ed Employees Assocwtion (Queensland Branch) Union of Employees /Case No 879 of 1994) TRAD ING HOURS - NON -E XEMPT SHOPS TRA DIN G BY RETA IL - STA TE Cl Ill f INDU S I RIAL COM M ISS IONER HALi COM M ISS IO N fR BECH LY COMMISSIO NER SWAN 3 March 1994 ln frl'quent Spec i al Occ as ion - Opening of Non-exempt Shops Not Essential to Success - · Convenience of Patrons - Application Granted. DECISION By an application fil ed 3 f ebruary 1994 the City Heart Management Committee of Rod.hampton and the City I lean Association of Rockhampton seek to vary the Trading I lours Order - Non-Exempt Shops Trading by Ret ail - State so as to extend 1he tradi ng hours wu hin the Rockhamplon Centrdl Busine ss Distna on S,ll urday 23 April 1994 by dele11ng 1he existing clos,ng t ime of 12 noon and subs1i1u11ng 1n lieu thereoi the closing time of 4 00 p.m. It appears 1ha1 Rockhamp1on is to host 1h e "Beer '9 4" lnternat,onal ( ,posi1ion The C,ty I lean has secured the right to conducl a "Farewell p,cn 1c and sports afternoon" in thr Mall a rea of 1he Ci ty of Rockh;impton on Sa turday 23 April 1994. The picn,c/spons anernoon ,s 10 invo l ve a mea~we of en1 e11a inmen1 a food festiva l/picnic and some 1rad1ng by retai lers from ,1alls w11h1n lhe common area oi 1hr Ma ll. We are told 1ha1 between 10,000 and 15,000 per sons are expected to a11cnd the " Bee f '94" lnl p1 11 ati onal l xposi ti on and tha1 the exprc1atio11 i< tha 1 1he numbe rs at lhe "Farewell picnic and spans afternoon' will be swollen by permanent residents of Rod, hc1mp1on to whom the proposed ac11v111es appear to be attractive The purpose of th e applifa ti on, wP are told, is to ensu re that all busi nessC's have dll opportunity 10 participate in an event themed as "an aitemoon" p1c.n 1c -- 1 of 2 -- 632 QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE We qu i te accept th at if the theme of the event is that of "an afternoon picnic", it can not be held befo re 12 n?on. Th e di fficulty is that Rockha mpton has bee~ host city to the In te rnational Bee f Expos 1t1on on other occasions. It was host city in each of 1988 and 1991 . O n ne i ther of th ose occasions did the no n-ex em pt shops transact busi ness after 12 noon. One can infer from the ci rcumstance that t he Ex position has returned to Rockhampton in 1994, that the Exposi tions of 1988 and 1991 were a success . Indeed, we have d ifficulty in seei ng how th e non-exempt sto res which wi_l_l b~ entitle_d to open on the afternoon of Sa turday 23 Apri l 1994 11 thi s Apphcat10~. were g ran ! ed_ could contribu te to the success of the proposed Farewell picnic and spor ts af tern oon" as su ch. Apart fr om a de pa r tm ent store ~n_d a store whi ch in another era wo uld have been d esc nbed as a dim e st ore", t he non-exempt stores on the Rockhampton Mall deal in clothing an d in jewellery. In ordina ry c ir cumstances those wh ~ attend at sports events and picnics do not do so for the purpose ol buying clothi ng,. screw dri vers or brooc h es. With res pect to the Appli can ts we thin k 11 more likely that the su ccess of the occasi on w ill depend upon the efforts of the exempt re tailers who are the vendors of food stuffs, souvenirs and entertai nment. We can however accept that the patrons at the event will include perso ns to resi de in remote parts, and that such persons wou ld t1nd It a convenience to be able to shop for i tems of clothing, crockery, sc i ssors etc. in substantial non-exempt stores, whilst visiting Roc khampton. T he Inte rna ti on al Beef_ Exp~si tion i ~ a very infrequent even t. Grant _of (he Appl ication w ill no t di sturb t he established pattern of trad,ng in the City of Rockhampton. On ba lance we consider that we should gran t the Appli ca tion. We ~re swayed by the infrequency of _the event and t he conven ience o f_ rural _dw_ell ers w ho 1:ndure the disa dvantage of distance as an ordinary 1nc1den t of t he ir lives. The grant of th e Appli ca ti on should not be seen as an acceptance by th e Commission that variat io ns of the type here sough t should, In the case of special even ts, be gran ted as a matter of course. Mr Ketter for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (Queensland Bra n ch) Union of Emp l oyees in opp os i ng the App lication has, amongst other thin gs, u rge d us to consider the position of shop assi stants_employ ed by the ~.on-exemP,t sto re s who wi ll lose t he opportun ity to attend the Farewell 1f the A pp lication is gr an ted. There i s_ force in the argumen_l. If the convenience of th ose who res ide In remote pans ,s to be considered so al so should the convenience of t hose wh o are emp loyed in the non-exempt stores. . The answer, we thin k, is to express ou r exp ec tat ion that shop ass ista nts w ill no t be requi red to work on the afternoon of Sat urd ay 23 Apr il 1994 and that the non -exempt stores in Rockh ampton will be staffed by tho se who volunteer to wor k and by casuals engaged for t he occasion. Experience in other trading hours cases ha s l ed us to believe that where the Commission h as ex p re ssed such an expectation, empl oyers have met it. Dated this t hird d ay of March 199 4. D.R. HALL, Chi ef Ind us tria l Commi ss i oner R.E. BE CH LY , Commissioner. D.A. SWAN, Commissioner. Appearances:- M r R. Ca r te r for Rock hampton Ci ty Heart Managemen t Committee and City Heart A ssoc iation of Rockhampton. Mr C. Ketter for the Shop, Di st ributive an d Allied Em ployees A ssoc iation (Queensland Bra nch) Union of Employees. Operative Date: N./A Decision - Trading Ho urs Rel eased: 3 Ma rch 1994 , [ 18 March, 199 4 I 8 March, 1994] QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 633 -- 2 of 2 --