We live in a fast-paced, 24/7 world and our shopping hours should reflect that.

The Monday to Friday, nine to five working week is no longer the norm.

Can't shop until 11am on a Sunday? It's not good enough, according to Oliver Peterson. File image

I find it really frustrating that we are forced to wait until eleven o’clock on a Sunday morning for our shopping centres and major department stores to be able to open their doors.

We need choice.

The regulation of WA trading hours is anti-business, anti-choice and anti-jobs.

Unfortunately the government isn’t interested in freeing the shops, removing the red tape and allowing shopkeepers to pick and choose when they want to trade.

The former Liberal leader Mike Nahan wanted to do it.

He was going to the state election with a full deregulation of shopping hours policy arguing: "Shopping has long ceased to be a simple exchange of value and the McGowan Government must recognise that its outdated policy on retail trading hours no longer best serves either consumers or businesses."

But new leader Liza Harvey has all but dumped the plan.

This is very disappointing because WA will remain the most regulated state in the country when it comes to controlling traders.

The argument for regulation no longer stacks up, leaving the major retail outlets and supermarkets closed until eleven on a Sunday, but you can order your groceries online the day before and have Coles or Woolworths drop it off to your home at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning.

If regulation is meant to protect the smaller retailer or the independent then why can we walk into a Bunnings hardware at seven in the morning on a Sunday?

While the bricks and mortar retailers are dictated to by outdated red tape, it’s the online world that is open 24/7 and knows no boundaries.

WA retailers are not just competing with their local counterparts, they are up against any retailer who sells on the internet.

I am not advocating for 24/7 trade. That would be ludicrous.

But our local shopkeepers should simply have the power and the ability to decide when they want to open their doors and when they want to close them.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry argue there are 6000 people looking for work in the 135,000-strong retail sector which is WA’s third largest industry worth eight billion dollars.

With tough trading conditions and an unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent giving the retail industry more flexibility could create more jobs and give a much needed boost to the economy.

The Opposition’s decision to backpedal on retail trading hours will take the pressure off the government which was considering a concession in deregulating trading hours which it would take to the election.

If the Liberals have backed down will the Labor Government feel the need to at least free the shops a little bit more?

Probably not if last Christmas trading was anything to go by.

The McGowan Government added just 34 additional shopping hours over the festive season, down from 49 the previous year.

Politically now there is no appetite to loosen the constraints on the WA retailers.

It’s disappointing and a missed opportunity to create jobs, giving customers and retailers choice.