How they voted

Grant Robertson blogs those who voted for letting communities decide, and those who voted against.

The breakdown by party was:

• National 49-9
• Labour 1-43 (incl Anderton)
• Green 0-9
• Maori 3-1 (1 not vote)
• ACT 5-0
• United Future 1-0
• Total 59-62

The only good thing about the bill being defeated is it means the issue won’t go away.  If it has passed, allowing each community to decide their own policy for Easter Sunday (a day not even a public holiday), then the law would not be so broken, and people would stop agitating for change.

There is a reason there have been 11 bills seeking to change the law, and there will be more attempts. The religious conservatives and big unions were against late night shopping, Saturday shopping and Sunday shopping. They lost all those battles and will eventually lose this one. And it isn’t about the right to shop. I never shop on Sundays anyway – that is a day for drinking and the bars are all open. It is about who should decide what days and hours shops should open and close.