jayr

Anyone know why QLD doesn't use Daylight Saving in the summer? What's the point of it being light at 4:30 in the morning if its dark at 7pm?

pankala

Fades the curtains and cows arrive at the milking shed too late.

jayr

Wouldn't the cows like to have a lie-in during those hot summer months?

pommie bastard

Neather does WA they had a poll here and it was voted down because the curtains would fade and the cows would not know when its milking time.
Other good points against were you lose light in the morning and it would stay light later it shows how backward the sandgropers are.

jayr

Were these really the general reasons against the idea!!?? I think it's time to start some sort of campaign to throw a bit more light on WA and QLD ( as long as the cows don't mind). I don't see why it should be light when I want to be asleep and dark when I want to be awake.

pommie bastard

The question has been raised again in WA but the locals hate following the Eastern States , I would prefer more light in the evenings but god help the cows and my blinds .

pankala

It used to be a well known fact that virtuous people got all their work done before breakfast so they could spend the rest of the day contemplating the point of it all.

I suspect you have been brain washed by too many late night commercials about soap powder.

That you were capable of asking the question indicates that NOW is your time for life changing revelation. READ THIS:
Why daylight saving’s benefits do not add up

dotty

In QLD, people dont want it, most say they just could not stand yet another hour of sheer heat. That is stupid tho as its often 28 degrees l at 2 am anyway. The cow and curtain brigade are alive and well and played a big part in why we all get woken up at 4.30 and plunged into darkness by 7pm in summer and 5 pm in winter.

Perth Helena

Yes, it's frustrating this whole DST thing. Here in WA, most Perth people want it but the country people have far too much clout. There were three referendums on it in the past, and the NO vote won each time, by a slight margin - due to the rural voters. The current state government has said it has no plans to bring the issue to the forefront unfortunately (no money in it obviously), so we're stuck with the situation as is for a few more years at least.

A lot of people here are extremely adverse to any change. They freak out over anything new or different (i.e., 50kmh thru residential zones (you'd think the sky had fallen)), and I'd have to agree with PB about some people's attitude of "we don't have to do what the Eastern States do". If the East does it, well, we don't want it!! And that's their only reason. Silly I know, but some of my fellow Sandgropers are simple people, living in isolation, happy with their lot and afraid of change.

Listening to talk-back radio one day, where this issue is frequently discussed with many for DST, one guy was convinced DST would mean he'd have to work an extra hour a day. Since the argument is often put forward that DST means an extra hour of sunshine (useable, useful sunshine) per day, he somehow thought this meant he'd have to drive his truck for an extra hour. Obviously not a Mensa member. And then there's the mums phoning in frantically worried about not being able to put their precious darlings to bed because it'll be so light. Funny, but raising my kids in Vancouver where it stays light til 9:30pm many summer evenings, I had no such problem. But then my kids knew who was boss.

Sigh! What to do?

etlniwd

The highest minimum temperature ever recorded in Brisbane is 25.9 degrees

dotty

Any temps taken is Qld are taken in the shade, one metre off the ground in a wooden protected slatted box. Its been debated here for donkeys years that the printed temps are basically crap.

Do as the Aussies do! Stick a thermometer in your bedroom, you'll soon get the real temp.

Failing that walk around with a cooled vented wooden box on your head, stay in the shade and stay 1 metre off the ground all day and the temps on the news will be accurate as hell.

etlniwd

All temperatures anywhere are taken in the shade. It's the only meaningful measurement. You could stick a thermometer in the sun in the antarctic and it could read 28 degrees.

The current temperature in my Brisbane bedroom is 22 degrees (it's 11pm) which is exactly the same as the temperature outside.

My wife has taken to using a blanket already.

Moan about Brisbane as much as you want but I don't see how anyone can moan about the climate - it's absolutely perfect.

The place is crying out for daylight savings though. Getting woken up by the sun at 0430 am in summer is stupid as is having to turn on the floodlights to play tennis after work cos it gets dark before 7pm. In fact you only have to look at the longitude of Brisbane to see that it could even make sense to put it in a different time zone altogether. Light at 0630 and dark at 9pm - that would be so much more logical.

captaincook

yes have to agree that daylight savings and sunday shopping were the two things we noticed the most when we arrived. Sunday shopping has been resolved finally but they wont budge on daylight savings.

premier in qld promised a further referendum at the last state election then hastily backed away from it when he got elected. The problem is the country areas dont want it and they have far more clout here than the city despite the huge population difference as they are all living in marginal country seats. if you upset them your likely to lose a state election. there is a saying here that one vote in the country in oz is worth 4 in the city.

when you first live here you notice how much they pander to the farmers. its a rural economy but its way out of all proportion to their contribution. farmers had 3 or 4 years of excellent output until this year a drought (god what a surprise australia having a drought who would have thought that could happen) and they are all pleading poverty and holding hands out for state help. everyone seems to have forgotten about the records years just gone.

the only solution is an idea to zone the se corner of qld as an economic zone where daylight savings would apply and the rest can stay the same. Obviously though this is opposed by those outside the zone as they think it will be too confusing when they have to ring or visit inside the zone.

welcome to the land of the petty. it would be great to have daylight savings - we miss long summer nights so much and we will never be an early riser. but to get it though you need a referendum called and the state politicians will not do it. last time they had one in qld it was very close 51% against 49% for - i think with the huge growth in se qld population and retirees from the south arriving here if they ever had another it would get up. I am not holding my breath waiting for it. We are leaving soon anyway but maybe by the time we come back in 5/10 years they would have daylight savings. We don't care though as we would not return to Qld only NSW.

Stan J

There WAS daylight saving in QLD (as a trial for a year or two) about a decade ago, it was considered an issue of such importance that a referendum was held and the vote went against its continuance.

There was talk of bringing it back for the Sydney 2000 Olympics but that didn't transpire.

Interestingly there are places that do adopt Daylight Saving (I have in mind certain 'resort' islands off the QLD coast.

My own view is that the Eastern Seaboard should align with WA time ... go to work shortly after dawn in the summer, in the dark in the winter, but have daylight until 10pm in summer.