A majority of South Australians want restrictions on shop trading hours to be eased, a new survey has found.

Business SA says the University of South Australia’s Institute for Choice found 75 per cent support for changes including later trading on weekends and earlier opening on Sundays.

“People want to be able to shop when it’s convenient, and that includes Sunday mornings and after 5pm on weekends, when they’re not at work or battling peak-hour traffic,” Business SA spokesman Anthony Penney said.

In Queensland, the government has recently passed an amendment to allow non-exempt shops in regional Queensland to trade on Easter Saturday.

In January, the National Retail Association said it had identified an amendment to the Trading (Allowable Hours) Act would result in many large retailers being forced to close their doors for four consecutive days over Easter.

“The NRA were the first organisation to identify the issue in January and the government acknowledged that it was an unintentional drafting omission,” NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said.

“The government were quick to respond to our concerns and we thank them for addressing the matter in a prompt manner and well ahead of Easter.”

Lamb said the previous legislation would have meant that major retailers in regional towns would have been forced to shut for four consecutive days over Easter.

“Stores that don’t operate on Sundays and/or public holidays would not have been allowed to trade on Easter Saturday, something that has not occurred in Queensland for decades and would have been devastating for regional parts of the state,” Lamb said.

“The Easter long weekend is one of the busiest periods for retail and the previous legislation would have greatly inconvenienced consumers in those affected areas.”

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