Why Jacob Deem says the Gold Coast could benefit from daylight savings

Queenslanders have rejected adopting daylight saving twice, but the Gold Coast has the most to gain by being ahead of its time. See why

Remember the scare tactics peddled about daylight saving decades ago … that it would fade our curtains and confuse the dairy cows?

Neither happened. Yet, like clockwork, the annual debate about whether Queensland should adopt daylight saving is back.

As New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia recently wound their clocks forward, Queenslanders, especially those close to the border, considered whether their state should do the same.

Daylight saving was initially introduced in Australia during World War I and II in a bid to reduce fuel consumption.

In the wake of World War II, the southern states, where the difference in daylight hours across the year is more pronounced, progressively adopted daylight saving over summer.

The Gold Coast is the epicentre of the Queensland daylight saving debate.

Being on the border, it is the place in Queensland most likely to benefit from a change to the clock, and the issues with crossing time zones are most pronounced here.

But there is a lot of consistency in the Gold Coast’s 300 annual days of sunshine – on its winter solstice Gold Coasters get about 11.5 hours of daylight and 14 hours at the summer solstice.

Icy conditions for an early morning swim with the Currumbin Dingos as the coldest start to a winter in years has gripped the east coast of Australia. Currumbin Dingos Andy Reynolds, David Neumann, Siegi Huettner, Kaye Power, Ian Aitken and Terry OÕConnell go for a sunrise dip. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

By comparison, Hobart gets only about nine hours of light on its shortest day and more than 15 hours on its longest.

Over the course of the year Gold Coasters are getting hours more sunlight than their southern counterparts, reducing the need to manipulate the clock to maximise daylight in the summer months.

Further up the Queensland coast, the effects are even smaller – Cairns is extremely consistent, getting 11 hours on its shortest day and 13 hours on its longest.

The arguments for daylight saving are therefore less convincing in Queensland, and especially so in the north and west of the state.

The evidence for those arguments is itself mixed.

Apples-with-apples comparisons are hard to find, making it difficult to tell whether the benefits of daylight saving are because of manipulating the clock, or simply because of seasonal changes.

For example, some retail and hospitality sectors such as dining-out report increased trade during daylight saving, but it is difficult to separate the figures from seasonal upticks in holiday-makers over summer.

One notorious global statistic is that snack consumption increases with daylight saving.

But this boon for retail spending is because in the 1980s the US candy industry lobbied heavily to extend daylight saving to the end of October (Spring in the northern hemisphere), giving families more time at Halloween and increasing candy consumption.

Other industries, especially agriculture, resist daylight saving, citing concerns that winding the clock forward worsens farmers’ exposure to the oppressive midday summer heat.

Workplace accidents are more common in the first week of daylight saving each year, and the lost hour of sleep results in a productivity loss across the economy.

Conversely, once people have adjusted their body clocks, the additional daylight seems to reduce driving accidents because of better visibility in the evening commute.

Given the mixed evidence for the benefits of daylight saving, it is no surprise there are firm advocates on both sides of the debate, but with little hope of compromise.

Sunset over the city of Gold Coast looking from the south, Queensland, Australia

Australia’s federal system of government is designed to allow different parts of the country to adopt rules that make the most sense for them.

In the case of daylight saving, it has meant that southern states have been able to take advantage of longer summer days.

Queensland on the other hand has avoided changing the clock, reflecting that for the state as a whole, daylight saving has less to offer.

Queenslanders have rejected adopting daylight saving twice, although the last referendum on the issue was 30 years ago.

While a recent survey suggests many Queenslanders would support a move to daylight saving, the margin is narrow and comes ahead of any concerted campaign against the move.

In the recent election debate, neither major political party advanced the issue or indicated it had any plans to do so.

The LNP’s election victory and strong showing in regional Queensland seems to further cement the importance of governing for the whole state rather than focusing too heavily on the southeastern pocket.

Perhaps it is time for the sun to set (at its proper time) on the Queensland daylight saving debate.

Jacob Deem is Assistant Professor Law at Bond University specialising in public law research on constitutional law and constitutionalism, administrative law and tribunals.