‘There’s no benefit’: Call to cut back daylight saving in NSW

NSW should knock two months off daylight saving and let it run from November to March, farmers say, because post-pandemic work habits have made it redundant.

Members of NSW Farmers will vote at the lobby group’s state conference next week on whether it’s time for rural Australia to push back against daylight saving, which has been gradually extended since it was introduced outside of wartime in 1971, so it now covers half the year.

The sun sets on Katoomba hours before the start of daylight saving in 2018.Credit: Dean Sewell

Those in favour of winding it back say it is especially unfair on children in country areas, who have to get up in the dark to travel long distances to school when they could otherwise sleep in.

“The arguments for daylight savings have always been economic … about keeping the jurisdictions aligned in terms of trading hours,” NSW Farmers executive councillor Sarah Thompson said. “But I think COVID has knocked that into the ballpark.”

Greater work flexibility meant it was no longer necessary to ensure workers were in the office in Sydney at 9am, at the same time as their counterparts in Melbourne.

“The impetus for daylight savings, to have it for that length of time, is now mitigated, and it’s time to reconsider it.”

The sun rises over Cooma at 7.25am on April 5, just before the end of daylight saving.Credit: Sarah Thompson

Daylight saving was last extended in 2008, when the start date was brought forward from the last week of October to the first. In 1971, daylight saving ran from October 31 to February 27.

Scientists say it should be abolished because waking in the dark affects one’s metabolism and in turn one’s cognitive ability.

“Almost all our metabolism is controlled by our circadian clock and to synchronise that circadian clock you need bright light in the morning,” Frederic Gachon, from the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said.

“It’s proven that waking up in the dark for kids is bad … it affects your capacity to concentrate, to learn.”

Blayney farmer Rebecca Price, with her husband David, wishes daylight saving was shorter. Credit: Wolter Peeters

The transition into and out of daylight saving was also linked with an increase in heart attacks and car accidents, he said.

“All the advice from the sleep societies and so on is to abolish the daylight savings time and to permanently move to standard time, which is a more natural time.”

Blayney cattle farmer Rebecca Price said that 16 years of forcing children out of bed in the morning had made her loathe extended daylight saving.

“You’ve got to get them out the door, otherwise the [school] bus has been missed, and they’re so tired, especially when they’re younger. It’s pretty hard to drag them out of bed, and they’re tired for the day.”

She said daylight saving made sense in summer, when it gave farmers extra time with their children in the afternoon, but once the days became shorter, the benefit was lost.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous. You’re waking up and it’s still dark, and as the days get colder – as they do in the Central West come autumn – there’s no benefit … it doesn’t help us, our families or our farming enterprise at all.”

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