Gold Coast business leaders give backing to move to daylight savings

BUSINESSES on the Gold Coast are firmly behind introducing daylight savings to southeast Queensland.

Surfers prepare to enter the water at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast.Picture: AAP

THERE is near unanimous support for introducing daylight savings to southeast Queensland, according to a Gold Coast Bulletin-Griffith University Business Confidence poll.

The December poll, which surveyed 80 business leaders, found 96 per cent of respondents supported change.

Queensland abandoned daylight savings in 1972, but trialled it from 1989 until 1992 when a permanent change was narrowly voted down in a referendum.

John Flynn Private Hospital CEO Greg Jenke said the Bulletin-Griffith University poll reinforced what he found when he canvassed opinion in the business community.

“There are very few people I talk to in the business sector that don’t want daylight savings,” he said.

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“It would be a great boost, as a tourist destination, to maximise the daylight hours.”

Mr Jenke said half of staff and patients at the Tugun-based hospital live over the border in NSW.

He said he was baffled as to why there is no political drive for change.

“I just can’t understand why there is no political will. There is no reason that they can’t introduce it. If they are thinking about upsetting their northern constituents, why not just cut it off from the Sunshine Coast south, and then everyone is happy?”

Queensland Airport Limited CEO Chris Mills, whose company operates Gold Coast Airport and three others in regional Queensland, said there was a whole generation of Queenslanders who had not been heard.

“When you go back to when we last had a referendum in 1992 – it’s a long time that’s elapsed since people gave their views – a whole generation has grown up without the opportunity to have their say on this.”

Mr Mills said the Sydney-Gold Coast route was the nation’s fourth busiest and the inconsistency was taking a toll on productivity and efficiency. The problem is compounded for the Gold Coast-Melbourne route, the seventh busiest in Australia.

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“It’s a huge market and at this time of year it’s very difficult for business people on the Gold Coast to get to Sydney in time for a meeting — you can’t be in the CBD for 8.30am.

“I certainly think that it would be much easier for the southeast Queensland time to be aligned with those core markets.

“From the point of view of a business that has a state border running through the middle of it, it’s an ongoing problem,” he said.

Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon, the sole Labor MP on the Gold Coast, said while she likes the idea of daylight savings, she does not support its introduction.

“I like daylight savings and know that there are a number of Gold Coasters who share my view on this,” she said.

“However as the premier has said, we want a united Queensland.”

Gold Coast Federal Minister Steve Ciobo said he is a big supporter of daylight savings.

“It makes sense for the community of southeast Queensland. But ultimately the only people that can enact change is the Queensland State Government,” he said.