Monocle’s 2011 list of top 25 liveable cities includes Melbourne at number 5 and Sydney at number 7, but does not include Brisbane. At the very least, if we want a chance of getting on to this list, we need to reform our antiquated retail trading hours. According to Monocle (July/August 2011 edition, p. 21), as part of its ranking of cities:

…we considered each city’s 24-hour metabolism for quality of life. Try buying your groceries in Munich, last year’s winner, after 20.00. Convenience is surely a fundamental right in any decent city.

Due to its poor retail trading hours, Munich was downgraded from first to fourth position in this year’s ranking.

While reforming retail trading hours won’t necessarily get Brisbane noticed by international magazines like Monocle, Queensland’s current restrictive regulations are another mark against Brisbane and may confirm the prejudices of many that Brisbane is a sleepy, boring, big country town.

My previous posts on these topics include:

Retail trading hours restrictions holding back retailers

Queensland’s retail trading hours are perplexing

Push to deregulate retail trading hours deserves support

Brisbane not yet one of Monocle’s 25 most liveable cities in the world