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Christmas shopping not a 'cultural event', industrial commission rules
By Lucy Stone
Is the annual frenzy of Christmas shopping a cultural event?
The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission last week had to determine how significant Christmas shopping was to south-east Queensland, and whether it constituted an “event” similar in significance to the Gold Coast’s Commonwealth Games.
The two shopping centres can legally trade overnight on December 23 and 24.Credit: Jim Rice JRZ
Two Brisbane shopping centres, Westfield Chermside and Westfield Garden City, recently sought a declaration from the commission to change their permitted overnight shopping hours at both centres in the week before Christmas.
In 2003, the Chermside centre was allowed to trade overnight on December 23 and 24, with Garden City shops given the same extension in 2014.
An amendment to the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act 1990 confirming the extended hours was included into the Act.
However, this year December 23 and 24 fall on a Sunday and Monday, prompting the National Retail Association Union of Employers to seek permission through the QIRC to move the 2018 trading dates to December 20 and 21.
Having a special event declared would have allowed extended trading hours for the 38-hour period for several shops in the centres but Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace argued Christmas shopping was not important enough to allow the change.
The ups and downs of Christmas shopping.Credit: Janie Barrett.
Under legislation, an “event” is a unique or infrequent happening such as the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the Weipa Fishing Classic, or the Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo.
Section 5 of the Act sets out that an “event” can only be declared by the commission for significant cultural, religious or sporting significance, or for the importance to the economy.
Declaring such an event would allow exempt shops to trade in extended hours if they were within or close to the event.
An initial application filed in the QIRC in July was met with an intervention application from Minister Grace, who questioned whether Christmas shopping could be declared an “event”.
The union of employers argued that, in fact, the overnight trade was itself an “event” because of the changes in cultural norms within the centres during the 38-hour period.
It sought to change the event date of the overnight shopping in 2018 only to “address an apparent anomaly” in the legislation, which the minister disputed.
Arguing that the experience of going Christmas shopping in the lead-up to Christmas Day was a significant cultural experience, the employers' union submission asserted that “society has become increasingly secular and that shopping and the festive side of Christmas represents the entire experience of the day and season for many people”.
QIRC deputy president Daniel O’Connor, in his decision, said he was concerned only with answering the question of whether the proposed overnight shopping could be an “event” within the meaning set out in the act.
“The activities which occur inside the centre (visiting Santa, gift wrapping, cooking and catering demonstrations, carol singing) occur through December, and in some cases the entire year, throughout the world, and are not limited or unique to the complexes and/or the period,” he found.
“What makes trading on 20 and 21 December, as opposed to trading on 18, 19, or 22 December so unique? The answer is, nothing.”
Member O’Connor dismissed the application after concluding that the overnight shopping period could not be constituted as a special event.