Hayden Johnson: Daylight saving in 2032 Games would avoid global embarrassment

There’s one big event on the horizon we’re all overlooking in the great daylight saving debate, writes Hayden Johnson.

Once timid politicians build a respectable stadium for 2032, Brisbane’s biggest Olympic Games battle will be with time – daylight saving time.

For three months between July and September 2032, Brisbane should turn the clocks back an hour (or two).

If we don’t, the rest of the world will receive an unwelcome shock when a majority of Northern Hemisphere dwellers land in Brisbane.

Imagine you’re a European who’s heard about this sun-drenched land Down Under and its bronzed inhabitants relishing their wide open spaces.

Then you arrive to find the sun sets at 5.20pm – not too much later than a miserable London winter.

Brisbane will be just the third summer Games in 32 years to be held in a host city’s winter.

We’ve heard tirelessly about how our Olympics will be uniquely Brisbane, so why not force the clocks back so visitors have longer in the evening to experience how good we are?

Paris has taught the world to be bold and be different. Los Angeles will do it and Brisbane must avoid not only delivering a bad Games, but worse for us, an unmemorable one.

Changing time to better embrace our outdoor Australian lifestyle is a good and simple start.

Brisbane loses $4bn each year by not having daylight saving, according to a University of Queensland study. Those economic benefits of a later sunset were evident during the Paris 2024 Games, when rush hour for waiters came near 9pm when restaurants were bustling.

Half of the patrons were grabbing a post-event dinner while the other– such as those hitting the spectacular beach volleyball arena – were filling up before their event.

An extra hour of sunshine won’t make a significant difference to the perception of Brisbane’s Games across the world but it will add something special for residents.

That’s especially true if, god forbid, the southeast doesn’t embrace summer daylight saving in the next eight years.

On this issue Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli are locked in a cowardly bond – no plans to change, they insist.

Brisbane 2032 is battling with time. Three years of wasted time since we were awarded the Games and our political class now insisting there’s still plenty of it. Olympic daylight saving is a no brainer.

Originally published as Hayden Johnson: Daylight saving in 2032 Games would avoid global embarrassment