Daylight Saving Explained

What is daylight saving?

Daylight saving is the practice of shifting the clock an hour forward for part of the year. This would ensure that our sunrises and sunsets aren’t unreasonably early. In South-East Queensland, the sun rises before 5am about 70 days a year, and never sets after 7pm. This is totally misaligned with most people’s daily routines.

When is daylight saving?

In Australia, daylight saving is implemented from early October to early April in ACT, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Who observes daylight saving at present?

Approximately 70% of the Australian population observes daylight saving. More than 50 countries observe daylight saving in some form, including almost every country in Europe and North America.

How does daylight saving work?

Easy peasy! On the first Sunday in October, your clock goes forward an hour. On the first Sunday in April, it comes back an hour. Most watches and clocks are automated these days, so the adjustment is made for you while you sleep.

Why do we only move an hour forward during part of the year?

Due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, we get longer days in the summer than in the winter. The farther from the equator you are, the more difference there is between the longest and shortest days. Brisbane is 27° south of the equator, and therefore has a little over 10 hours of daylight in June and just under 14 hours in December. As the sunrises start to get earlier and earlier, we ‘borrow’ an hour from the mornings so that we can enjoy it in the afternoon. Waiting until October ensures that we have plenty of morning sun year-round.

Can't we just wake up an hour earlier? Do we really need a time shift?

We rely heavily on timetables imposed on us by society. Shops, schools, and offices open at fixed times, and you can't mow your lawn or operate machinery too early either. Have you ever tried telling your boss you want to leave work at 3pm to catch a round of golf, or to have a surf after work? With daylight saving, you won’t have to.

What proportion of Queenslanders actually want daylight saving?

Roughly 70% of South-East Queensland residents support daylight saving, and roughly 60% are in favour state-wide. The figure is highest on the Gold Coast, as the economic region (Tweed-Gold Coast) is bisected by a time zone boundary. Imagine leaving work in Southport and getting home to Cabarita two hours later!

What are the main benefits to daylight saving?

There are many, but they can be broken down into roughly four types of benefits:

1) Health Benefits: The extra hour of night-time would mean we could comfortably sleep past 4am. The extra hour of afternoon daylight would allow us to enjoy many of our favourite activities, including afternoon exercise for adults and playtime for children. Research has proven that TV ratings drop after the time change in the US as people spend more time outdoors.

2) Economic Benefits: AI Group estimates that daylight saving would bring $4 billion in benefit to Queensland. It would attract more businesses doing inter-state commerce to Queensland, and local businesses (especially restaurants) would attract customers later into the evening.

3) Lifestyle Benefits: Most Queenslanders do not enjoy being woken up at 4:45am by glaring sun, or by barking dogs, screaming children or chirping birds. Likewise, many would want to enjoy an extra hour of daylight after work, or after dinner.

4) Workplace Benefits: With the scorching sun up by 5am, tradies spend their entire workday in the Queensland heat. Daylight saving would allow for an extra hour of cooler temperatures, and would mean that UV exposure would be reduced before 9am.

Some of our main supporters include surfers, parents with young children, pilots & airlines, and golfers & golf courses. One study in the US estimates that an extra three weeks of daylight saving injected half a billion dollars into the golf economy alone.

What time would the sun set if we had daylight saving?

It depends on where you live. In the spring and autumn, it would set at roughly 7pm in South-East Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast). The latest sunset of the entire year would be 7:45pm in South-East Queensland.

Many of our critics argue that daylight saving would mean extreme sunset times in the rest of the state, but this simply isn’t true. In Cairns, the sun would set at 7:50pm in the middle of the summer, and even in Longreach it would only set about 20 minutes later (8:10pm). Consider the fact that on the same day, the sun sets around 9pm in Melbourne, and summers in Victoria can get just as hot.

Why do we need daylight saving in a tropical state?

82% of Queenslanders live outside the tropics. South-East Queensland is actually in a sub-tropical climate zone--the same as much of NSW. In fact, Brisbane is closer to Melbourne that it is to Cairns. Thus the days in South-East Queensland vary in length from approximately 10 hours in winter to 14 hours in summer.

Won't the sun rise too late if we have daylight saving time?

Not really. In spring and autumn, the sun would rise at 6:30am in South-East Queensland and sunrise would be around 5:45am at Christmas. If it were extended state-wide, the sun would rise at 6:40am in the middle of the summer in both Cairns and Longreach. Also, keep in mind that dawn commences almost an hour before sunrise, so with daylight saving time it would *still* be getting light at 5:00am in South-East Queensland in the summer.

Isn't there evidence to suggest that daylight saving causes more traffic accidents?

A recent study by Rachel Carey and Kiran Sarma found that research can neither support nor refute the assertion that the shift in light from morning to evening has an impact on road safety.

Are we proposing a state-wide solution or a split-state solution?

Either one is fine; we're ambivalent. We are advocating on behalf of southeast Queenslanders, but if north and west Queenslander want in on it, that's fine. Politicians may prefer to keep the state in a single time zone, but split-state solutions are common in the United States (e.g. Indiana, Florida) and Broken Hill, New South Wales is on Adelaide time (ACDT/ACST).

Didn't we just have a referendum?

No. The last referendum on daylight saving time was in 1992, meaning that no one under the age of 48 has had a chance to vote on the issue.

Why change now?

Because our state's population has shifted to the southeast over time, and because most of us work indoors these days.

Time zones were superimposed by the colonial government in 1894. In the 1911 census (the first available), “Brisbane and Suburbs” contained less than a quarter of the Queensland population. Today, South-East Queensland contains 70% of the state’s population. More importantly, most Queenslanders a century ago were tied to the pastoral economy, and rose with the sun. In today's world, most of us spend our days inside of office buildings with little opportunity to enjoy the sun on weekdays.

How can we implement change?

Change will need to come from Queensland Parliament. Many, if not most, Members of Parliament (MPs) are personally in favour of daylight saving. However, the concerns of a small minority continue to be heard over the large majority demanding daylight saving. Our voices need to be heard!