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The issue of Daylight Savings Time for South-East Queensland has continually dogged the State Government and local pollies, including the new premier, Anna Bligh.
It is a very controversial topic. Indeed having lived in South East Queensland for a couple of years now, I know how much of a pain it is to get woken up by the strong sun at 5.30am and for it to be night again by 6pm. And, given our physical location of just above the 30 degree latitude, these times remain approximately the same throughout the year.
The pro-DST lobby, on the other hand, cite the cost to local businesses for not being “in sync” with businesses and government in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra; the personal cost to people who have to go to work meetings in those cities when they observe DST (i.e. they have to take the 5am flight out of Brisbane instead of the 6am flight to arrive on time … which generally means having to fly down the night before); and the impact it has in general health-wise on the population of the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
The anti-daylight savings time lobby, predominately those from the Tropical and Regional areas, have some good arguments against implementing it; mostly complaining about Brisbanites and Business continually whining until they get their way. To her credit, Anna Bligh has decided that there will no longer be a referendum on this, as she needs to govern the whole of Queensland, and not just the South-East corner.
I personally am divided on this issue. On the one hand, it would be a lot nicer to have a beer after work as night falls; and not having to wake up early due to the bright sunlight or having to catch a stupidly early flight to comply with Qantas’ and Virgin’s view to schedule their flights around Mexican Standard Time (erm - sorry I mean Daylight Savings Time in NSW and VIC). But on the other hand, in Tropical and Regional QLD the introduction of DST would impact their communities even worse. Apparently, the curtains would fade faster and the cows would get confused.
I guess just because of my tounge-in-cheek anti-Southern State views I guess I would have to oppose the introduction of DST, I mean how can anyone like a sport where two teams just kick the ball to each other? And of course, it certainly puts Queensland on the map of the world, we officially have our own time zone (UTC+1000 Brisbane).
Still, a great article from a pro-DST journo which claims in the 273-page Government Report into the issue:
[…] showed the reasons some people were against moving clocks forward were as petty as ‘it would be no benefit to me’.
One woman said it just meant her husband would stay in the pub longer and, despite Premier Anna Bligh’s denials, some farmers were still concerned their livestock would get confused.
I would just love to see this report, but not been able to find it. Can anyone who does post a link?
If a couple of hundred retirees in the outback have blocked Daylight Savings Time just because they want to stop hubby staying in the pub longer and the cows getting confused, I would be p!ssing myself laughing about that for the rest of the week.
written by Simon Harvey
\\ tags: comment, daylight_savings_time, politics, queensland
