The Palaszczuk government put the problem in the too-hard basket and deferred any changes to the current regime in regional centres until 2022.

The state sent the matter to parliamentary review and I attended the Isa to hear locals who had their say on the matter.

First up was Robbie Katter who came down squarely in the "no change" camp.

He said many small businesses relied on their Sunday trading margins to survive and the money they made stayed local but city council and the chamber of commerce disagreed.

Council and the chamber surveyed residents finding overwhelming support for change among 1400 responses.

Council said Sunday trading would revitalise the city centre while the chamber said people in outlying shires relied on Mount Isa for shopping.

But the local Brumby's franchisee said she made 20 per cent of her profit on Sunday while local supermarket owner Bob Burow said Sunday was "his little piece of the pie".

Before you scoff at whether we should be providing sheltered workshops for small business, consider other market failures impacting Mr Burow's operation.

Last month he learned 70 per cent of his bread would no longer be transported to Mount Isa.

Is the bread Helgas? Not in Mount Isa it ain't anymore.

Manufacturing giant Goodman Fielder (who make brands Helga, Wonder and Praise among others) has pulled a number of its bread ranges from Queensland's northwest citing high transport costs. D'ough!

So who are we to say the market should be left to its own devices? By that light, half of regional Australia would close down, with banks itching to ditch uneconomic branches.

Capitalism works best with big customer bases, small supply chains and economies of scale - none of which apply in many regional communities.

Shareholder-driven executives couldn't give a flying fig about the survival of country towns.