Why is WA still afraid of Sunday shopping?

Western Australia likes to see itself as confident, modern and outward-looking. Yet when it comes to something as basic as when people are allowed to shop, this state remains trapped in a bygone era, and the Premier appears determined to keep it that way.

This week, Roger Cook confirmed he will not even review Perth’s restrictive shopping hours for the remainder of the government’s term. Not reform them. Not trial changes. Not consult more broadly. Simply: no. End of discussion.

That decision is not principled. It is not forward-looking. And it is certainly not pro-choice, for consumers or businesses.

At the heart of this debate is a simple question: why does the state government believe it should decide when adults are allowed to shop? In almost every other area of modern life, Western Australians are trusted to manage their own time, their own money and their own preferences. But when it comes to retail trading hours, the government insists on playing nanny.

The result is a system that defies common sense. On Sunday mornings, shoppers queue outside closed doors, not because they want to, but because the law says they must. Demand is visible, obvious and sustained yet deliberately ignored.

This is not some fringe argument. Business groups, retailers and economists have been making the case for reform for years. The Business Council of Australia has ranked Western Australia’s retail trading laws among the worst in the country. The Australian Retailers Association has warned that rigid hours hurt local businesses, particularly as consumers increasingly turn to online shopping that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Even major employers like Wesfarmers have acknowledged the disconnect between modern consumer behaviour and outdated regulation.

Yet the Premier’s response is to retreat behind a familiar argument: that restricting trading hours protects small businesses from large retailers. It sounds compassionate. It also doesn’t withstand any serious scrutiny.

Small businesses are not homogeneous. Many want the flexibility to open earlier or trade longer, particularly those who rely on weekend foot traffic. Others, on the other hand, would prefer to stay closed. Under a deregulated system, they would remain free to do exactly that.

Deregulation does not mandate longer hours. It permits choice.

What the current system does mandate is uniformity, and uniformity always favours the status quo. It locks in arrangements that suit unions and bureaucrats, not consumers or entrepreneurs. It assumes that government knows better than business owners themselves how to run their operations.

That assumption is increasingly hard to justify.

The irony is that outside Perth, local councils already control trading hours. Regional communities are trusted to make decisions that reflect their own needs and circumstances. Only in the capital city does the state insist on centralised control, as if Perth residents are uniquely incapable of deciding when they would like to shop.

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas has signalled that retail trading reform will be part of a future election platform. That is welcome. But it also underscores the failure of the current government to even contemplate change in the here and now.

This isn’t a radical proposal. Western Australia is an outlier nationally. Other states have moved on, balancing worker protections with consumer convenience and business flexibility. They have not collapsed into retail chaos. They have simply adapted to modern life.

What is most telling is not that the Cook Government opposes deregulation. It is that it refuses to review the legislation at all. That is not the posture of a confident government. It is the posture of one afraid of upsetting entrenched interests.

Policy should evolve as society evolves. When laws no longer reflect how people live, work and spend, it is the responsibility of government to revisit them. Refusing to do so is not stability, it's stagnation.

Western Australia deserves better than a Premier who treats outdated rules as sacred texts. Shopping hours may seem mundane, but they reveal something deeper about how power is exercised in this state: cautiously, centrally, and with little regard for personal or commercial freedom.

If this government truly believes in supporting small businesses, empowering consumers, and preparing WA for the future, it should start by letting people decide for themselves when the doors open.