Talk:Time in Australia

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[edit] Daylight savings time

A good start on the daylight savings stuff, User:Chuq. Here's a couple of helpful pages of further info I found while researching Australian time zones, but haven't got around to digesting yet: [1] [2] [3] --Russell E 13:30, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

I'm fairly sure that the use of S for summer is incorrect, eg. AEST -> Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10) and not Australian Eastern Summer Time (would be UTC+11). [4][5]Australian Parliament[6][7]

--RobBrisbane 21:54, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Alternate proposal

I have seen this alternate time zone proposal somewhere before - on TV about 10 years ago, I'm sure - but I can't remember where from - does anyone recognise it?

Changes involve:

  • A vertical line just west of Adelaide. West of the line is +8, east of the line is +10.
  • A horizontal line just north of the Sunshine Coast. North of the line has no DLS, south of the line does.
  • DLS changeover date is the same as what Tasmania has now.

Pros:

  • Two zones normally, four zones over summer
  • Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane are in the same zone all the time.
  • Perth is always the same time difference (2 hours) behind the south-east.
  • No Queenslanders urban/rural DLS division. (or very little)
  • No Tweed Heads/Gold Coast confusion.
  • No half-hour time zones.

Cons:

  • Some states and territories split in half.

-- Chuq 00:28, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Maybe it's related to the "zonal system" mentioned in this article? --Russell E 01:50, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Daylight saving in WA

What's with WA? Most of the population is at a similar latitude to Sydney/Melbourne etc. but no DLS? I always thought the reason for NT and Qld not having was because of the low latitudes, meaning the day length didn't differ as much between summer and winter (as opposed to in Tassie it gets dark anywhere from 4.30pm AEST in winter to 9pm AEDT in summer!), but what is WA's excuse? -- Chuq 00:28, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

Note that Sydney, being on the eastern side of its time zone, is actually slightly behind its solar time: compared with the sun, DST only pushes it ~ 50 minutes ahead. Perth, being on the western side of its time zone, is always ~ 20 minutes ahead of solar time, and DST would push it further ahead. A similar argument can be forwarded for the bulk of (the land mass of) Queensland. Robbak 05:25, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
I always just thought it was superstition and a poor understanding of time. The Abolish Daylight Saving Committee has been in the news the last few days, and I heard a few anti-daylight savings callers on the radio yesterday. They were a bunch of crackpots. You may remember Flo Bjelke-Petersen's claim that it make the curtains fade. The ADSC's current line is that it causes a host of health and social problems, mainly, it seems, because it's dark for people who get up before 6 AM. Strangely it seems to be rural people who complain most, when in fact they're the ones most able to set their own schedule and so most able to disregard the time that happens to show on the clock... One point I do remember is it means that schoolchildren are walking home in the hottest part of the day under daylight savings, probably a valid criticism.
The reasons cited by people on the radio don't matter. What does matter is that the people of Western Australia said no three times, and the state government should take heed of that. rst 23:20, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
This person of Western Australia didn't say no, because he was 8 years old at the time of the last referendum. I think it's about time it came up again, because I'm pretty sure there's plenty of people like me who think it's a great idea but weren't able to vote at the last one :) -Jasonb 11:18, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
There were many many laws passed before you or I could vote that still affect both of us. How many of those laws do you want to revisit every time someone gets to voting age? rst 12:27, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
How many of them were there referendums on? I'd be quite happy to revisit every single one in WA's history. Especially that one about trading hours. Oh wait, I was already of voting age at that one :) -Jasonb 12:56, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
Very few of them had referenda. Probably only this one, AFAIK. It seems odd that the one issue on which we've held referenda, the results of those referenda are being ignored. rst 00:56, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Joining Australian Federation, 2x Liquor licensing, 2x prohibition, secission, 3x daylight saving, and trading hours. See here. Anyway it's just a trial in the lead up to another referendum to see what the views are today, not (in an arguably very different) 14 years ago. -Jasonb 09:31, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Btw this page has a bit of history [8] but simply cites referenda results as the "reason" why WA and Qld said no. --Russell E 01:49, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] In what year was daylight introduce?

In what year was daylight introduce in Australia ? I haven't been able to find this information (yet).

Here [9] ya go, knock yourself out. We should try to add all the relevant info to the article, because all that great info from the NSC leaflets appears on the verge of falling off the internet (see also the external link in the article... both are linked via archive.org, no sign of those leaflets on the current incarnation of the site)--Russell E 18:01, 31 January 2006 (UTC)


We've had daylight for quite a while. Ever since the continent was formed, in fact. But only during the day time.  :) rst 12:29, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Saving(s) time

Have replaced the few references to the grammatically incorrect Daylight Savings with Daylight saving --Jabberwalkee 16:43, 4 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Federal powers and the constitution

Interestingly, the federal government could probably legislate for time in the states and override the states' legislations, given that section 51(xv) of the constitution gives parliament "power to make laws ... with respect to ... Weights and measures". I haven't heard of that mooted anywhere, and federal governments have kept out of the daylight saving arguments, but it may be worth mentioning in the article. rst 23:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moved Section

I have moved the following from the Daylight saving time around the world article because of excessive length. I placed it here rather than trying to integrate it into the text of the article itself. It has sources, but be aware that the contributor (User talk:Catsanos C) has been cited for vandalism on other Wiki sites, and that he has a tendency to "forget" to added all the reference tags, which tends to blank out large sections of the article. Thanks. - BillCJ 22:40, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

In Australia, the decision to implement daylight saving time is left up to each state or territory. Some states or territories implement it and some do not. The states which do observe DST choose their own implementation dates, although Prime Minister John Howard made a request on July 14, 2006 that the states and territories which implement DST all observe a uniform period.[1]

New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia apply DST on a yearly basis. Tasmania commence daylight saving on the first Sunday in October, while other states begin on the last Sunday in October. All states which observe DST end on the last Sunday in March. All states which observe DST turn clocks forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m., and turn clocks back from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m..

In 2000, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory brought the start date of DST forward by two months to the last Sunday in August (August 27) due to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, New South Wales.[2] Likewise, in 2006, all five states observing DST (New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia) extended the end date of DST by one week to the first Sunday in April (April 2) due to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Victoria.[3]

In 2006, the Western Australia Parliament approved a three year daylight saving trial, which will run from the summer of 2006-2007 until the summer of 2008-2009, after which a referendum will be held to determine if it should be put in place permanently. The move towards a trial was backed with large amounts of media coverage. DST will start on the first Sunday in December (December 3) in 2006, and on the last Sunday in October in the other two years; it will end on the last Sunday in March in all three years.

Queensland do not officially have DST. Queensland experimented with DST for a year or two in the early 1970s, and again in the early 1990s, but it was abandoned after a majority of residents voted against its introduction in a 1992 referendum. The Queensland state government will, however, do some research in early 2007 into the possibility of a referendum on DST in the south-east of Queensland, but are having difficulty knowing where to draw the line.[4]

Like Queensland, the Northern Territory also do not officially observe DST. One of the main reasons is that they are on a time zone of GMT+9:30, despite being on a longitude of GMT+8:45, which means that they could be said to be on continuous 45-minute DST.[5]