Bunbury will remain the only regional city in Western Australia with deregulated trading after City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder councillors voted against the introduction of unrestricted trading hours.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor Glenn Wilson said deregulation was a "bridge too far" and the motion was voted down 5 to 1 at the ordinary council meeting on Monday night.
It was the biggest debate around trading hours in the historic mining city since Sunday trading was introduced in March 2019.
While deregulation did not pass, councillors approved a proposed increase in trading hours to 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday, and 7am to 6pm on weekends and public holidays.
It means the total number of trading hours in a week will increase slightly from 80 hours to 82.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor Glenn Wilson did not support deregulated trading hours. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
Mr Wilson said the proposed amendment needs the approval of the Minister for Commerce, Sue Ellery, which will likely occur over the coming months.
He said the changes would make trading hours less confusing for consumers in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, which currently has four different closing times through the week, including 8am to 3pm on Sundays.
"Council's view is that going to unregulated trading hours within the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is probably a bridge too far at this particular point in time," Mr Wilson said.
"I feel that uniformity for our trading hours is probably a better outcome for our city."
According to the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bunbury is the only regional city with unrestricted trading hours alongside eight smaller shires that have adopted the same policy.
That includes the Shire of Dardanup, where WA's first 24-hour department store, a Kmart, opened at Eaton in 2014 before reducing its operating hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Survey drew 351 responses
With a population of nearly 30,000 people, the city pushed for changes after a community survey conducted last month received 351 responses, with 37 per cent in favour of unrestricted daily trading.
The survey found 42 per cent of the respondents supported an increase in Sunday trading hours only.
Chris Devlin, who operates the O'Connor Fresh IGA, told Monday's council meeting the survey was not enough evidence to support changing the status quo.
O'Connor Fresh director Chris Devlin says the only winners from extended trading hours are big supermarket chains. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
"Changing trading hours has a significant impact on small to medium retailers … a decision on this matter shouldn't be taken lightly," Mr Devlin said.
"The survey took three weeks and we got 351 responses.
"That's 1 per cent of the population — that's one plane load of people."
An aerial view of the historic gold mining city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder with the Mt Charlotte gold mine in the foreground. (ABC News: Tom Edwards)
Chance to be 'bold'
Deputy Mayor Kirsty Dellar and Councillor Deborah Botica both recused themselves from the vote after declaring financial interests as small business owners in the Kalgoorlie CBD.
Councillor Terrence Winner was the lone voice who lobbied for the change, describing deregulation as an opportunity for the community to "be bold".
"We want our communities to be open for business and providing the opportunity for businesses to operate in a time and way they choose assists in this," he said.
"Businesses can choose to open or not. I don't believe that we, as a council, should be placing restrictions on businesses."
Boulder's historic Burt Street is a designated tourism precinct that already has unrestricted trading hours but retailers choose not to take advantage of it.
Small businesses and hardware stores are also not covered by the Retail Trading Hours Act 1987.
Councillor Nardia Turner says businesses in Boulder's tourism precinct could trade 24 hours a day if they wanted to but none have taken up the opportunity. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
Councillor Nardia Turner voted against deregulation but said she was "torn" because local government "doesn't have a place in telling businesses when they should open".
"I feel that 24-hour trading is probably a place we don't need to get ourselves involved in," she said.
Local business owners opposed
Kathy Smith, owner of Hannan's Marketplace by Foodworks, also spoke out at Monday's council meeting against deregulation.
Kathy Smith, who owns Hannan's Marketplace with her husband Peter, was frustrated by the lack of consultation prior to the vote. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
She said the council process felt rushed and extending trading hours would only benefit supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.
"I don't understand why this keeps coming up. Why do we keep having opening hours questioned?" she said.
"My business is open from 4am to 9pm. If people can't shop in those times, they have a problem.
"We bring in fresh fruit and vegetables three times a week, no-one could complain about not having freshness in this town, so why do we need extended trading hours?"
Retravision Kalgoorlie store manager Ken Ferguson said he did not support deregulated trading hours.
Retravision Kalgoorlie store manager Ken Ferguson says the changes to trading hours are unlikely to impact his store. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
"The biggest concern for me would be the cost to the business with hourly rates for employees and seeing if it's actually busy enough to stay open in those extended hours," he said.
"We definitely have waves of business on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a steady trade.
"We would need to employ more staff to cover the additional hours, and I've noticed this town is very transient, and retail rates are not as competitive as mining rates."
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