Hello once again, to all our faithful Daylight Saving for South East Queensland supporters.
It has been six months since the Queensland state election was held. We have a newly elected and ‘refreshed’ Labor Government, led by Premier Anna Bligh and a new-look LNP Opposition, who have a greater representation in the Queensland Parliament, and are now under the leadership of Gold Coast MP John-Paul Langbroek.
So, has Daylight Saving been introduced into the South East Queensland region in this time? Unfortunately not!!
Neither of the two major parties have changed their stance on the issue of Daylight Saving…yet! South East Queenslanders still have high hopes that either Premier Bligh or Mr Langbroek will finally see to reason, and stop ignoring the issue of Daylight Saving.
With just over a week to go before other eastern and southern states proceed with the annual ‘clock on’ to Daylight Saving for another year, let’s reflect on the facts about the issue of Daylight Saving relating to Queensland.
Firstly, it has been well documented that not adopting Daylight Saving is a burden on South East Queensland businesses, due to additional travel and extended staff hours, in order to accommodate Daylight Saving business hours in other states.
Added to this, a very large number of people are affected by the current disruption that is caused by the ‘time border’ running through the densely populated Gold Coast-Tweed region. Logically, if the ‘time border’ was shifted to a more sparsely populated area, north-west of the urbanised South East Queensland region, the number of people disrupted would be significantly reduced.
It must also be noted, that it has been nearly 18 years since the one and only Queensland Referendum on Daylight Saving was held, which gauged support for State-wide Daylight Saving in Queensland; and was defeated. However, since the 1992 Referendum, more than 1.1 million voters have been added to the Queensland electoral roll, and are eligible to have a say on the issue of Daylight Saving; just under 950,000 of these additional registered voters live in the South East region.
In this time, there has been an overwhelming increase in support of Daylight Saving, indicating that the majority of Queenslanders are in favour of its introduction. This support is geographically divided, with the majority of residents in South East Queensland being supportive of Daylight Saving, while the majority of Queenslanders residing outside this region, oppose its introduction.
Given all of this information, it is easy to understand why the issue of Daylight Saving within Queensland needs to be revisited, and that the most logical solution to resolve this issue, is to introduce a dual time zone. A dual time zone would assist businesses in the South East region, and would also satisfy the majority of all of Queensland’s residents, not just the minority, as is currently the case.
The issue of Daylight Saving within Queensland has been sitting in the ‘Too Hard Basket’ for so long, that the major parties have become too comfortable and complacent in remaining with the status quo, continuing to ignore the issue, and even claiming it isn’t an issue. However, Daylight Saving has become an increasingly more significant issue facing Queensland. To deny this, is to deny the needs of business, and deny the people of South East Queensland greater lifestyle opportunities.
As Daylight Saving is a geographic issue for Queensland, with both major parties having acknowledged this, a question must be asked of both the Premier and the Opposition Leader: “Why is the geographic issue of Daylight Saving within Queensland, continually ignored, when a logical geographic solution is at hand?”
In light of all of the above (pun intended 
), I would like to share some statistics with you, on the performance of the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Party at the March 2009 Queensland State election. These numbers are encouraging, however, it is a shame that the election was called so abruptly, as it did not give us the chance to become more widely known and really ramp up the support!
- The Party was born in December 2008 – only 3 months old when contesting the election
- Commenced campaigning only 3 weeks before the election date
- Contested the election with 32 candidates (4th largest party represented, behind the ALP, Greens and LNP)
- The largest ever contingent for a single-issue party in Australia’s history
- Averaged around 2.5% of the primary vote in the 32 electorates contested
- Received the largest ever vote tally for a single-issue party in Australia’s history (in the lower house)
For one issue to be voted upon in this manner, it is obvious that there are concerns throughout the community, that Daylight Saving is a significant issue which requires urgent attention, and needs to be addressed appropriately. The Party takes pride in the fact that the issue of Daylight Saving in South East Queensland, has now been firmly placed on the political agenda.
One last point: Before the March election, all of us involved in the Party were political novices. Now that we have experienced our first election campaign, I would encourage you to follow us on the next part of our journey. However this time, buckle up!
Daylight Saving for South East Queensland – ‘It’s About Time’
Jason Furze
Party Leader