Extend trade hours call

AdelaideNow... Extend trade hours call: "ANRA chief executive Margy Osmond said the inquiry appeared to be out of touch with community demands.

'Lifestyles are changing, women especially are now juggling jobs, kids, the home and shopping,' Ms Osmond said."

I think hours need to be looked at for lots of things. It is very convenient to be able to online bank as I wish. It is very convenient to pay bills on the phone or Net. Some sectors have revamped themselves. Our lives have changed. I cannot shop when I want to because I am often at meetings and then the shops are shut or I am too tired. For me, I could use public holidays because my working hours have become longer. Most people do a lot of really good , useful things in their free time. They also have to be able to do what they need to do whenever they need to do it because work and family requirements have changed. It will become difficult for small shops but not if we think about it. We have to acknowledge that a lot of people now lead very busy and productive lives. We also need to think of the tourists we are attracting and if means we have to think the whole thing out properly so that it works. Schools probably need to change too because unis have. Universities are having to cater to working students and they have created more flexible hours and courses and use online information delivery well. We also have an ageing population so working hours need to be restructured to allow for part time and alternative approaches. It wont be easy or straight forward but it would probably be good to look at a range of real peopple and what their lives look like now and then the needs they have. We are doing pretty well, but there is no reason for us not to look at how we could smooth some things out and take the stress out of life so that we remain positively productive.