Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey is set to give up on West Australia describing it as Third World after the State refused to back Sunday trading.
Describing the State as more Third World than a booming State, Harvey has told the Sunday Times in Perth that he’s a beaten man and that he has given up trying to get WA to embrace Sunday trading. The executive chairman of Harvey Norman told the paper that after years of beating his head against a brick wall, he simply did not have the strength any more to fight for Sunday trading which he claims is common in most civilised cities in the world.
“Any fight that was in me has been extinguished,” Mr Harvey said.
“I pushed the boundaries, opening my stores against the law because I thought it would bring attention to this issue. I went to court on the issue and lost.
“We have opened all around Australia, in New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Slovenia and Ireland. And yet, here in WA we have this strange situation where (apart from central Perth) we can’t open. It’s all quite bizarre really.
“I rang Colin Barnett up during the election campaign to see what his views were and couldn’t get him. I’ve got no reason to try him again. I am sure he won’t listen to what I have to say. WA may have a strong economy, but in terms of retail shopping hours it is relatively Third World.”
Even backwards film character Borat’s fellow-citizens in Kazakhstan have more liberal trading hours than WA.
Whereas shops close at 6pm in Perth during weeknights and 5.30pm on Saturdays, shops in Kazakhstan open till 8pm, Monday to Saturday.
People in the Indian capital of Delhi get to do their shopping until 11pm, Monday to Saturday.
Communist China has seven-day shopping, as does our “mother country”, England.
For more on this story see the Sunday Times.
