Many of Wanaka's businesses opened their doors yesterday, flouting the Easter trading laws for a second day.
Some Wanaka shops also opened on Good Friday, contravening the Shop Trading Hours Repeal Act 1990.
Tourist towns Queenstown and Taupo have exemptions allowing them to trade, but Wanaka - which has a usually resident population of 8666 and receives an average of 4059 visitors a day - is required by law to close.
Wanaka Chamber of Commerce president Leigh Stock said yesterday it was up to individual business owners to make their own decisions about Easter trading, but the chamber believed Wanaka should be able to get a tourist exemption.
Several politicians had tried and failed to change the legislation and it would be interesting to see how far National MP Tau Henare would get with his new member's Bill, announced on Saturday, to allow shop trading on Good Friday, Mr Stock said.
Retailers who break the Easter trading rules face a fine of up to $1000.
Mr Stock did not know whether any Department of Labour inspectors visited Wanaka this Easter.
By law, shops must also remain closed today, Anzac Day, until 1pm. Wanaka shops have not had any argument with the Anzac Day trading rule, which allows people to attend memorial services throughout the district.
The National Distribution Union said in a media release yesterday Mr Henare's new member's Bill would waste the time of Parliament.
Since 1996, eight Bills attempting to liberalise the rules have been voted down and Otago National MP Jacqui Dean had struggled to get support for her member's Bill, National Distribution Union general secretary Robert Reid said.
The union was not opposed to reviewing the exemptions in tourist areas.
But arguments made by retailers that shop trading amendments were about choice and that retailers would not be forced to open were "highly dubious".
"Once the competitor down the road opens, so, too, will their shop open, and then retail workers will be called on to work," Mr Reid said.
Consumer choice arguments also fell flat, he said.
"The last time we looked, shopping was not part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Shoppers could already shop 361 and a-half days a year, including 51 of the 52 Sundays, he said.
Retail employees worked unsociable hours to meet demand for weekend, holiday and late-night shopping and Mr Reid asked why Parliamentarians would want to make that situation worse.
"It seems extraordinary that Parliament would want to dismantle one of our only laws that explicitly promotes the interests of family and community over the marketplace."
