Tweed MP Geoff Provest is backing a push by a National Party colleague to wind back daylight saving by a month saying the last month is ‘a pain and drags on too long’.
Nationals MLC Trevor Khan yesterday unveiled plans for a bill to be debated in coming weeks in state parliament to cut back on daylight saving time (DST) because he says it’s an unfair burden on people in the state’s west.
Daylight saving runs from the first Sunday of October to the first in April, but under the plan backed by the National MPs it would be wound back to end in March.
But the plan has been lambasted by the opposition in parliament and described as ‘a thought bubble gone too far’.
Mr Khan claimed that for people living on the western border of NSW ‘the sun gets up up to 50 minutes later in the day than in the eastern seaboard’ and that ending it earlier would mean they were ‘less likely to be getting up in the dark, kids are less likely to be riding the bus in darkness’.
He said it was a common complaint by country MPs who had ‘generally stopped arguing about daylight savings in general but that last month is grinding a lot of people down’.
Mr Khan’s plans were lambasted and met with shouts of derision from the opposition benches, according to a Fairfax Media report.
Shadow treasurer Ryan Park said ’this idea is a thought bubble gone too far… there’s been no thought about the impacts that changing daylight saving times would have on the state’s economy’.
Mr Provest issued a press release backing the move, saying he was ’hopeful’ daylight saving would end earlier if the bill was successful.
‘While the issue of daylight saving always provokes a passionate debate – some people love it and some want it gone completely – most people agree that the last month is a pain, it simply drags on for too long’, Mr Provest said.
He said the bill ‘essentially reverses the extension to daylight saving which was pushed through Parliament with little consultation in 2007’.
‘I’ve been working on this legislation with my Nationals colleagues from country NSW, particularly the new Parliamentary Secretary for Northern NSW, Adam Marshall, who has also been a passionate advocate for change,’ he said.
‘The majority of residents in Tweed don’t have a problem with daylight saving as such, but become frustrated with the confusion caused by the different time zone in Queensland for much of the year.
‘The consequences are not only social but are also economic, impacting on business, and disrupting family life in this cross-border community,’ Mr Provest said.
‘I think it’s a good comprise [sic]. We’ll still have five months of daylight saving but the final and most troublesome month will be removed.’
It would be a great idea ! It really should be only Nov/ Dec/ Jan/ Feb….but anything is better than nothing at this stage.
Why can’t we have it all year and those who want to change their schedules can!!!!
anything less than what we have now would be better
Rarely would I agree with Provest or the Nationals but in this instance I do. Especially when you live on one side of the border and work on the other. I would rather it be four months. More in line with Summer.
What a load of crock! Anyone with an ounce of intelligence can discern the difference of EST in comparison to EDST.
If not, do the following:
1. Have two clocks, one for QLD and the other for N.S.W.;
2. Have one clock and set it on the predominant time that has the greatest influence in your life; and
3. Go and live in the locality that has the least effect on your life.
Surely us New South Welshman who enjoy our daylight saving and have family ties with our state and other sectors that have a compatible time zone do want the Nats to interfere in our way of life.
If the Nats feel so strongly about changes to the EDST, go to the Nats in QLD and ask them to make the changes to their state EST to align with N.S.W.
Personally, I think it’s great that we have an hour difference on the border. Some of these are:
• Late restaurant timings in QLD;
• Late business transactions & shopping in QLD;
• Tradies can offset their trade times to be either early start in N.S.W. or late finish in QLD;
• TV stations can be desirable, however if you live in the Northern Rivers area of Lismore, programming will be an hour late [have you thought about that Geoff?]; and
• The day starts early which is comparable with nature and EDST, yet we have a greater leisure time in the evening.
Sorry Nats, no to your idea as we are New South Welshman firstly, not Queenslanders and we do not compromise to what the Gold Coast would like to occur. See if you believed in the modelling of Global Warming, you would appreciate that summer is going to be a lot longer in the extreme… not shorter.
Broken Hill & Silverton are on the NSW western border & operate on South. Australian time. Half an hour behind the rest of NSW.
Get rid of daylight saving, it’s a big pain.
Yes I agree it goes on toooooo long.
I would like Nov to Feb.
Christamighty, I hate when the only hope for salvation comes from the conservatives but let us hope some sanity prevails and this yearly blight on the natural order of things is at least curtailed.
It suits cube monkeys in Sydney but for the rest of us it’s a yearly nightmare.