Govt should use its powers to temporarily amend the Shop Trading Hours Act

Under the current law every supermarket in New Zealand has to close on Friday 10 April and Sunday 12 April.

As the only significant source of food open in New Zealand, it would be moronic to force them to close. It would also creates even larger queues for supermarkets on the days after. We already have reports of 400 metre long queues to get into supermarkets.

The Government should use it powers to temporarily amend the Shop Trading Hours Act to allow supermarkets to open on 10 and 12 April, should they wish to. They could even stick in a provision stating no one can be forced to work those days.

There is no logical reason not to amend the law. The normal arguments in favour of no trading of those two days do not apply at the moment. They tend to be:

• We need one long weekend off where families can spent time together. As families are spending 28 days together in a forced lockdown, this argument is insane.
• We should not allow trading, so people can go to church on those days. Well the churches are closed.
• People need a day off shopping. This is not about discretionary shopping. This is about being able to get nappies and food etc. There are no cafes open, no takeaways, no deliveries. They are the only source of food at the moment.
• Workers need a day off. We now have probably over 100,000 people unemployed and desperate for work and to earn money as household incomes are dropping.

Let’s not turn 400 metre queues at supermarkets into 800 metres queues. The Government should do the sane thing and amend the Shop Trading Hours Act for as long as we are in Level 4 lockdown.

UPDATE: The PM has said Ministers are considering this issue