Crowds at the David Jones Boxing Day sales. Credit:Ben Rushton "We are supporting the Boxing Day trading Bill as the people of NSW outside city and tourist areas need the opportunity to shop," he said. However, Christian leaders, including the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, are opposed to the legislation and have urged all Upper House MPs to "put families ahead of economic pressures". "I am very concerned by the erosion of quality family time that this legislation will have," Archbishop Fisher said. "Opening stores on Boxing Day will only strip many workers and their families of this increasingly rare time with their loved ones.

Christian Democrats leader Fred Nile supports legislation to expand Boxing Day trading across the state. Credit:Michele Mossop "Families are already subject to a vortex of social and economic forces and this measure will only heighten community fragmentation and family breakdown." The Australian Christian Lobby on Wednesday called on the Berejiklian government to abandon the legislation which would lead to families sacrificing valuable family holiday time. Boxing Day trading is back in the spotlight. Credit:Erin Jonasson "Even though the government assures workers they won't be forced to work, anyone who's held a casual or part-time job knows that there is always pressure to work public holidays," ACL NSW director Kieren Jackson said.

Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association NSW branch secretary Bernie Smith said it was concerned workers would be pressured to work on Boxing Day and on Christmas Day filling shelves and preparing for Boxing Day trading. "People who feel compelled to work won't complain. The fines are just a slap on the wrist," he said. Greens MP David Shoebridge said: "It is remarkable that the Christian Democratic party is supporting the government's attack on public holidays over the Christmas period. "Once again people are looking at Fred Nile and asking 'is nothing sacred to him? "Every Christian denomination, every church, has come out and denounced these laws and even this won't stop Fred Nile voting for them."

Liberal Party MP Matthew Mason-Cox crossed the floor to vote with Labor and the Greens to support a December 2019 sunset clause in the legislation. However, the chair's casting vote broke a 15-all draw in the vote and the sunset clause was defeated in the Upper House. Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has told Parliament the government was committed to reforming retail laws to provide more certainty and choice for consumers, retailers and employees. He said the existing laws had prevented shops in western Sydney, Newcastle and Dubbo from opening while those in the Sydney CBD, Bondi and tourist areas, including parts of the central coast, could open. He said the legislation would impose maximum fines of $22,000 introduced as part of a two-year trial of Boxing Day trading in regional areas. Former secretary of the Treasury, Percy Allan, was commissioned to review the 2015 and 2016 trial earlier this year and he recommended that minimum and on-the-spot fines be imposed because his review did not find the maximum fines effective in preventing employees from being coerced to work.

Mr Perrottet said that while the government was committed to ensuring employees were protected, it had declined to implement the minimum penalties "on the basis that mandatory minimum penalties are reserved for very serious offences, such as the murder of a police officer". He said mandatory minimum penalties also restricted court discretion to tailor penalties to particular circumstances. He said the proposal to issue on-the-spot fines was rejected because while it was appropriate for speeding fines, "it would not be appropriate for the offences set out in the retail trading legislation". Professor Allan recommended that Boxing Day trading be extended on the basis that a majority of employees surveyed were in favour of it. However, his recommendations that stressed adequate protections including minimum and on-the-spot penalties were needed for the one in five employees who said they felt coerced into working on Boxing Day. His report also recommended that unions needed to register members who did not want to work on Boxing Day and support them in making this clear to their employers.

The report also found Boxing Day trading had the support of less than half (41 per cent) of retailers surveyed by JWS Research. Support was higher in regional NSW locations, at 47 per cent. Madeleine Wright, 22, who works in retail in Sydney's inner-west said she felt pressured to work on Boxing Day in 2015.