NINE hundred people have signed a petition opposing Woolworths' bid for Sunday trading at Mission Beach.
Concerned residents targeted Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s meeting yesterday, presenting their petition and asking for council support.
They say the retail giant’s application for Sunday trading will kill more small businesses and ruin the town’s ambience.
Cr Jennifer Downs agreed, saying she had concerns about job losses.
"There have already been some very far-reaching effects (of Woolworths opening) and I wouldn’t like to see a continuance," she told fellow councillors. The Mission Beach divisional councillor said Woolworths’ bid could also threaten the town’s "amenity and market feel on Sundays".
Woolworths’ application is due to be considered at an industrial court hearing in the Far North in two weeks.
The retail giant maintains it is acting on consumer demand.
Mayor Bill Shannon said the issue would be decided by the court, and was not in the council’s jurisdiction. But councillors voted nonetheless to debate the late item at an upcoming meeting preceding the hearing.
Jennifer Jones, who runs a much smaller supermarket, said seven businesses including a butcher’s, supermarket and service station had closed since Woolworths opened midway through last year. A new butcher’s shop had since opened but everyone was finding it tough.
Ms Jones said she relied on her Sunday trade and it had a flow-on effect for other businesses.
"They (Woolworths) don’t just want most of the market, they want the entire market and they don’t seem to care who they take out and how many jobs are lost in the process," she said.
Mission Beach Business and Tourism spokesman John Hill yesterday said the proposal was generating mixed reactions around town.
At a committee-level, the region’s peak tourism body had come out in support of the Woolworths application this week but the matter would be further discussed at a general meeting next week, he said.
