Calls for a border bubble for daylight saving
The success of the border bubble has inspired a new push to deal with one of Queensland’s perennial problems - daylight saving. VOTE IN THE POLL
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
There are fresh calls for a daylight saving ‘border bubble’ as the annual time zone nightmare clocks on for another year.
Queensland woke on Sunday one hour behind the times of the rest of the east coast amid predictions the disruption will cost the state’s economy more than $4 billion in lost productivity.
Bulletin readers demand daylight savings after being asked what Gold Coast most needs
Daylight savings: Gold Coast businesses and leaders are fed up waiting for change
It comes as a lobby group campaigns for a petition to gather 100,000 signatures calling for a fresh trial of daylight saving just four weeks out from a Queensland election where neither major party is keen to discuss the issue.
Daylight saving advocate and University of Queensland senior lecturer in human geography, Doctor Thomas Sigler, said as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc with the economy, there had ‘never been a better time’ to reignite the debate.
“The Queensland economy needs a rocket and daylight saving is free – it doesn’t cost a cent,” he said.
“The industries hardest hit by the pandemic – tourism, hospitality, retail, are precisely the sectors that would benefit the most from daylight saving.”
He said the advent of the border bubble to allow seamless movements between northern NSW and southern Queensland during the COVID-19 pandemic was proof the regions could work together under one time zone if there was no statewide adoption of daylight saving.
“We advocate for both positions, either Queensland-wide or just the southeast corner, whichever suits the politicians better.”
Mayor says the Palszczuk Government should show ‘leadership’ on daylight saving
David Jones from the lobby group DS4SEQ said the state had evolved since the 1992 referendum and it was ‘ludicrous’ to deny Queenslanders another say on the issue.
“Anyone born after 1974 or anyone who has moved to Queensland in the last 28 years has not had a say on this,” he said.
“Southeast Queensland has a million more people than it did in 1992 and that’s a million people whose views haven’t been taken in to account.”
He said the longitude of western Queensland – often the most vocal critics of daylight saving, was more in line with SA than the southeast which relied on ties to the rest of the east coast.
He said he did not expect either major political party to take the issue to the election, but believed the new four-year term of government would be the perfect platform to trial daylight saving again.
“They (political parties) have made a political football out of this, but with four-year terms there’s no reason why you can’t have a trial in the middle of a term and it wouldn’t affect any election because the next one is still years away.”
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland general manager of advocacy and policy Amanda Rohan said different parts of the state had different views on DST.
“The vast size of Queensland means there are differing priorities for regions, including the impact and need for daylight saving on business needs and operations,” she said.
Not surprisingly, a spokesman for the Premier said the government would not ‘be changing its position on Daylight Saving’.
Nor would the LNP.
Federal Government must step in to create national time zones to end daylight savings debate
How to cope with daylight savings change
