Mayor says the Palszczuk Government should show ‘leadership’ on daylight saving

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor has urged the Palaszczuk Government to show “leadership” on daylight saving, as the state’s peak business body calls for the issue to be revisited.

BRISBANE’S Lord Mayor has urged the Palaszczuk Government to show “leadership” on daylight saving, as the state’s peak business body calls for the issue to be revisited.

Adrian Schrinner – who has previously pushed for a trial of daylight saving – said introducing it would give Brisbane residents more time to take advantage of the city’s lifestyle when they come home from work.

Pointing out that the last referendum on daylight saving was held in 1992, Cr Schrinner said an extra one million Queenslanders had since been added to the electoral roll who had not had a say.

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“I’m realistic and I know that it can only happen if the State Government wants to show some leadership on it,” he said.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says daylight saving won’t happen unless the State Government shows leadership on the issue. Picture: AAP Image/Claudia Baxter

“It’s not something that councils have the power to change and it would be obviously a ludicrous situation to have councils implementing daylight saving.

“It has to be done on a much broader basis than that.”

Cr Schrinner admitted he had other priorities at the moment, including Brisbane Metro, but said his position on the issue had not changed since becoming Lord Mayor.

“Our lifestyle and climate is better than (Sydney and Melbourne), yet we don’t have as much opportunity to take advantage of it,” he said.

“I have no confidence that the State Government is going to show leadership on this matter because there’s a number of other really important priorities that they’re not showing leadership on.”

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland’s head of industry, Dan Petrie, said there was “without doubt a need to revisit this issue and debate it”.

“The need to have one harmonised time zone is preferable given the fact that trade, confusion for small businesses, productivity losses and overall economic activity is affected by an inconsistent time regimen,” he said.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the differing time zones between Queensland and NSW during the months when daylight saving was in place made “no geographic sense to anyone”.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said daylight saving was “an old chestnut that the south east pushes out there from time to time”. Picture: Evan Morgan

“For us, it’s about having a consistent time zone,” he said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was yesterday unavailable for comment, but she has previously ruled out holding a referendum on the issue despite saying she was personally in favour of it.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill described daylight savin as “an old chestnut that the south east pushes out there from time to time”.

“Northerners have rejected daylight saving in the past, including in a referendum in 1992, and I don’t think attitudes have changed much since then,” she said.