Reader Response - ‘Argument’ comes up short

The  Western Australian Electoral Commission has recently published information regarding the two referendum questions on retail trading hours.

The commission describes this information as the ‘yes’ argument and the ‘no’ argument.

It is disingenuous to describe the published information as ‘argument’.

The information is not definitive ‘argument’ and this should be made very clear to all voters.

The so-called ‘argument’ is merely unsubstantiable conjecture produced by two proponent organisations from positions of direct self-interest.

The so-called ‘argument’ is not independently produced. It should have been.

The published information does not even acknowledge either the origin or the authors of the so-called ‘argument’. The absence of this information has the potential to mislead.

Retail trading hours in metropolitan Perth is a major issue for thousands of smaller businesses and for the WA community in general.

The handling of the referendum – starting with the way it was suddenly announced last November, followed by the intervention by the premier’s wife and the State Government’s complete change of position, and now the so-called yes and no ‘argument’ – leaves a lot to be desired.  It is a very unprofessional way to address such a serious issue.

Philip Achurch

Executive Director  WA Small Business and Enterprise Association Inc