Asia-Pacific News
New Zealand legislators keep ban on Easter Sunday shopping
Dec 9, 2009, 8:08 GMT
Wellington - For the 10th time in the last 19 years, New Zealand politicians voted Wednesday against allowing all shops to open on Easter Sunday.
Members of parliament, who were given a conscience vote free of direction by their parties on the controversial issue, rejected the proposal by 62 votes to 59.
Stores cannot open on Easter Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day or the morning of Anzac Day, which commemorates the nation's war dead, on pain of a 1,000-New-Zealand-dollar (700-US-dollar) fine. Shops selling certain goods in designated tourist areas are exempted.
It means that a garden centre can open while a nearby hardware store that sells plants and seeds cannot. But many storekeepers risk a fine to pursue business on a day when so many people are out and keen to shop.
Churches and labour unions consistently campaign against proposals to stop the confusion and allow shops to open legally.
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