Queensland doesn’t need daylight saving – and neither do the southern states

At this time of year, the perennial question is asked – should Queensland adopt daylight saving time?

The answer is definitely no.

I hate to break it to you – the sun still rises and sets at the same time, even if you call it something else.

A view across the NSW-Queensland border to the Twin Towns Services Club.Credit: Matt Dennien

Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart will wind back their clocks on Sunday as daylight saving ends and their residents rejoin the sensible and consistent world of Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Well, the winding of clocks may not literally happen as smartphones and computers should automatically fix the time.

But that just adds to the confusion of waking up on Sunday and wondering if you can trust tech to get it right, or whether you’re going to be an hour early to brunch.

There have been technological glitches – more than once.

I grew up in New South Wales and dreaded that weekend in October when I discovered, to my teenage horror, I’d have to wake up one hour earlier for school on Monday.

I also had to help Mum as she walked around the house with the telephone playing the authoritative voice of ABC broadcaster Richard Peach, aka the talking clock – “at the third stroke, it will be ...” – hoping we didn’t miss any clocks in various bedrooms as we set the time.

But then they killed the talking clock. I’m still outraged.

Queenslanders rejected daylight saving after a trial in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but it still has a lot of support in the Sunshine State, including from Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, who in 2023 said businesses in south-east Queensland missed $4 billion in revenue because it was out of step with other eastern states.

In 2021, an anti-daylight saving petition to parliament attracted 7750 signatures, and a pro-daylight saving petition had 18,507 signatures.

Then attorney-general Shannon Fentiman said it was not under consideration by the government, although debate continues to rage and a 2023 survey showed two-thirds of Queenslanders in support.

The concept is always more popular in south-east Queensland, and the region continues to boom with 72,900 new residents moving to Greater Brisbane in 2023-24, including 15,600 from elsewhere in Australia.

There are already three hours and 29 minutes more daylight in Brisbane’s summer than winter. How much more afternoon sunshine do we need?

Brisbane is home to more early risers than other cities interstate, and our afternoons are humid and sweat-inducing.

Daylight saving is also unsuitable for vast swathes of Queensland – if Mount Isa had daylight saving last week, the sun would have risen at 7.48am.

We’re not stuck in some time-warp world where office hours are rigidly 9am to 5pm – flexible work hours are now very much a thing.

In August 2024, one in four working Australians had an agreement to work flexible hours.

I’ve lost count of the number of meetings, phone calls and press conference embargo times communicated by southerners that I’ve had to clarify with the question, “Is that AEST or AEDT?”

They always mean AEDT.

Even the Coalition got tripped up over the timing of an online party room meeting to discuss nuclear costings late last year that was listed for 10am AEST.

Most took this to mean 10am AEDT, so a big group of MPs, including frontbenchers Dan Tehan and Michaelia Cash, logged on. It took chief whip Bert Van Manen, a Queenslander, to clarify in a party WhatsApp group that the meeting was beginning at 10am Brisbane time.

And take a moment to think about people living in border communities like Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, where you could have dinner at the Rainbow Bay Surf Club Bar at 6pm (AEST), then head to the Twin Towns Services Club an hour later at 8pm (AEDT).

But the answer isn’t to join them.

Daylight saving was originally introduced during World War I to save fuel to light homes and businesses, but advances in medical research say messing with circadian rhythms, a form of jet lag, could be harmful to health and lead to increases in heart attacks, strokes and car crashes.

It’s time NSW and Victoria catch up to us and rid themselves of daylight saving too.

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