General retail shops in the Perth metropolitan area will only be allowed to trade between 11am and 5pm next Thursday, September 22, for the one-off national public holiday to mark the Queen's death.
However, stores in regional WA will need to make a request to the Commissioner for Consumer Protection through their local government authority if they want to open at all.
Deputy Premier Roger Cook said this was in line with "normal public holiday trading hours".
Mr Cook also said it would allow West Australians to watch a live television broadcast of a memorial service being held in Canberra at 9:00am AWST on that day.
"We believe that to have our normal public holiday trading arrangements strikes the right balance," he said.
"To provide respectful opportunity for people to acknowledge the life and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and also to provide the opportunity for people to go about their lives, as necessary.
"We invite all business operators, obviously, to make decisions for themselves in the best interest of their business and their customers."
Many other public holidays in WA this year, including Australia Day, Labour Day, and the Queen's birthday, have seen trading hours extended to be 8:00am to 6:00pm.
Businesses to bear the costs
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in WA expressed disappointment at the trading hours for the one-off public holiday.
Chief Economist Aaron Morey said small and medium-sized businesses would bear the cost of the "last minute" public holiday, which also falls on a Thursday when trading hours are usually extended for late night shopping in WA.
"We were keen to see the public holiday trading hours extended into the evening as they usually are, the state government has decided not to do that, and so that is obviously disappointing from a small business perspective," he said.
"We want more foot traffic and vibrancy in our local precincts.
"Businesses need all of the foot traffic and turnover that they can get at the moment, because they're facing increased costs of doing business, which is putting pressure on their business and their own family budgets."
Businesses facing 'tough decisions'
Mr Morey said business would now be facing a number of tough decisions over staffing and stock orders.
He said penalty rates made opening expensive, stores were facing reduced foot traffic due to fewer trading hours, and staff and owners with children were faced with schools being closed.
Roger Cook said it was an "extraordinary one-off event" and the government was not considering compensation for businesses.
"No, these are the usual arrangements which take place in relation to a public holiday," he said.
"The decision was taken by National Cabinet, and as a result of that, Western Australia will participate in this national day of mourning."
The Deputy Premier also said work would be done to try and avoid disruptions to elective surgeries which are scheduled for September 22.
"My understanding is the Department of Health is trying to minimise the disruption to any elective surgery," he said.
"They'll try to have any operations which have been scheduled for that day take place.
"But they'll continue to liaise with patients to make sure they have all of the information they need."
Some surgery will need to be postponed
In a statement a WA Health spokesperson acknowledged that some elective surgery and outpatient appointments would need to be rescheduled.
"Every effort will be made to ensure the most critical and complex elective procedures go ahead on the public holiday; however, this will be subject to available staff on the day," they said.
"Hospital staff will be working hard to reschedule bookings as soon as possible and will contact affected patients directly to confirm new arrangements for their surgery or appointments.
"Patients are kindly asked not to call the hospitals."
The spokesperson also said urgent hospital services, including emergency departments, would run as normal.
The head of the Australian Medical Association in WA, Dr Mark Duncan-Smith, said it would be incredibly difficult for WA Health to avoid widespread disruptions to elective surgeries.
Dr Duncan-Smith said many staff would be unable to work because schools are closed and finding childcare can be difficult, and he expected many surgical theatres would have to stay shut.
He said waitlists were already excessive and those with a procedure scheduled next Thursday deserved clarity as soon as possible.
Not as simple as picking another date
"This is very important for people who have been given this date, especially in the public system," Dr Duncan-Smith said.
"They may have been on the waitlist for six months, 12 months, even a year or two.
"And so, if they have been cancelled, I would urge the government to give them dates as soon as they can."
Dr Duncan-Smith said the last-minute nature of the public holiday meant it was not as simple as picking another date on the calendar.
"This is the human side of the cancellation of elective surgery, for example if someone is due to have a joint replacement they may have taken a month or two off work," he said.
"Their partner may have taken a month off work to take care of the kids.
"And this really does impact on people's lives and it would be nice to see as small a disruption as possible."
Name change likely for Queen's birthday, date set to remain
It is expected many West Australians will try to take Friday, September 23, off work as well to effectively have five days off in a row because Monday, September 26, is a public holiday for the Queen's birthday.
Asked about the future of the Queen's Birthday public holiday in WA, Mr Cook said he believed the name would likely change but the date would not.
"I don't think so, but obviously those are decisions which the government now need to make as a result of King Charles coming to the throne," he said.
"We expect to make some decisions over the coming months with relation to the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
"You can anticipate a change of name, as you know the date doesn't actually fall on the Queen's birthday, but the government will consider that in due course."
Premier expresses 'deepest sympathy' to King Charles
Mr Cook was speaking on his way into Parliament, which sat for little more than five minutes in total.
During that time, Premier Mark McGowan read a message of condolence to King Charles on the death of Queen Elizabeth.
"We, the members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia express our deepest sympathy and condolences to Your Majesty on the death of your mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and give thanks for a remarkable life dedicated to service and duty," he said.
A minute's silence was then held before Mr McGowan read a message of congratulations for the King on his accession to the throne.
"We, the members of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia, offer our sincere congratulations on Your Majesty's accession to the throne and express the hope that Your Majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign," he said.
This week's sitting of Parliament was then adjourned early in accordance with protocols to mark the Queen's death.
The messages read by Mark McGowan were near word for word to those read in Parliament by Premier Duncan McLarty in 1952 following the death of King George VI and the accession of Queen Elizabeth II.
It has not yet been decided whether additional sitting days of WA Parliament will need to be scheduled to make up for those lost this week.
