Why Abolish Daylight Saving?
Standard Time
For Australia
Why do we still have Daylight Saving?
Some say it's to save energy. But whatever we save on light bulb usage, we more than make up for in air conditioning costs. It's simply no longer relevant in the modern world.
The negative effects on our health are becoming clear. It causes an effect worse than jet-lag, and some people are highly affected by this sudden change to the circadian rhythm - the body's internal clock.
The switch to and from daylight saving time causes fatigue, increased heart attacks and strokes, workplace injuries and car accidents. Even the performance of share market investors takes a nose dive due to tiredness-induced poor judgment. And a hot desert/tropical country with the world's highest UV sun cancer rate really doesn't need more daylight.
In fact, new studies are showing that we never really adjust to the clock change - the evening light keeps us awake late into the night, leaving us fatigued for the whole daylight saving season. The human body works on solar (standard) time, and changing the clocks away from this causes significant disruption.
Daylight saving causes costs and inefficiency for business. Uncoordinated time changes between different countries in the world affects trade, travel and communications.
It pulls Australia's states further apart, causing a huge 3-hour 'time gap' between east and west coasts.
And it drags us further from Asian and European time zones.
Most of the world has abolished this outdated practice. The whole continent of Europe is abolishing it next year. Let's join the modern world and do so too.
How it happened
^ Original three time zones - Federation era
^ Current five-time-zone system
Around the time of Federation, in 1895, Australia adopted three fixed simple time zones: GMT+8, +9 and +10 for Western, Central and Eastern. Our states fit perfectly within these three geographic time zones.
Unfortunately, in the 1970's, the southeastern state governments then went ahead and caused major disruptions by introducing daylight saving time. In some cases this was done without a referendum. In fact, when asked the question, daylight saving tends to be rejected - once in Queensland and four times in Western Australia!
A recent European Union consultation found that 84% of the public want to abolish the clock-change - and it's happening - with plans to adopt fixed standard time zones throughout Europe. A poll in the United States found that 75% do not like changing the clocks, and the senate has moved to end the time change.
Are we going to be the last corner of the world still doing this outdated practice?