Daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

(DST) is currently observed in the Australian states of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, and Victoria, as well as the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

, Jervis Bay Territory and

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

. Other Australian jurisdictions – the states of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and Australia's other external territories – do not observe daylight saving time. Each state and territory determines whether or not to use daylight saving time. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

all states and territories had daylight saving by federal law, under the defence power in section 51 of the constitution. In 1967, Tasmania was the first state since the war to adopt daylight saving. In 1971, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory also adopted daylight saving, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory did not. Queensland abandoned daylight saving in 1972. Queensland and Western Australia have subsequently observed daylight saving on a trial basis on several occasions. As a result of the inconsistent adoption of daylight saving, during the Australian summer the mainland's three standard time zones increase to five time zones. South Australia time diverges from Northern Territory time to become UTC+10:30, known as Central Daylight Time (CDT) or Australia Central Daylight Time (ACDT), while the time in the southeastern states diverges from Queensland time to become UTC+11:00, known as Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) or Australia Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). Officially, the change to and from DST takes place at 02:00 local standard time (which is 03:00 DST) on the appropriate Sunday. Of the states that observe DST, most began on the last Sunday in October, and ended on the last Sunday in March, until 2007. Tasmania, owing to its further southern

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

began DST earlier, on the first Sunday in October, and ended on the last Sunday in March. In the 2007–08 season, Tasmania started on the first Sunday in October whilst the ACT, NSW, Vic and SA started in the last Sunday in October. As part of the transition to earlier daylight saving, those states and Tasmania all finished on the first Sunday in April. For subsequent years, DST in the south-eastern states and SA now starts on the first Sunday in October, finishing on the first Sunday in April the next year. Western Australia was not affected by these changes to DST, being the only state in 2007–08 to observe daylight saving from the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday in March. However, since 2009, it is on Standard time all year round.

Summary table

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:130 bottom:60 top:10 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1900 till:31/12/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:dst value:red ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1900 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:1900 BarData = bar:ACT text:"Australian Capital Territory" bar:NSW text:"New South Wales" bar:NT text:"Northern Territory" bar:QLD text:"Queensland" bar:SA text:"South Australia" bar:TAS text:"Tasmania" bar:VIC text:"Victoria" bar:WA text:"Western Australia" PlotData= width:11 bar:ACT from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:ACT from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:ACT from:01/01/1971 till:end color:dst bar:NSW from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:NSW from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:NSW from:01/01/1971 till:end color:dst bar:NT from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:NT from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:SA from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:SA from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:SA from:01/01/1971 till:end color:dst bar:TAS from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:TAS from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:TAS from:01/01/1967 till:end color:dst bar:QLD from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:QLD from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:QLD from:01/01/1971 till:31/12/1972 color:dst bar:QLD from:01/01/1989 till:31/12/1992 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1943 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/1974 till:31/12/1975 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/1983 till:31/12/1984 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/1991 till:31/12/1992 color:dst bar:WA from:01/01/2006 till:31/12/2009 color:dst bar:VIC from:01/01/1942 till:31/12/1944 color:dst bar:VIC from:01/01/1916 till:31/12/1917 color:dst bar:VIC from:01/01/1971 till:end color:dst

Debate over daylight saving time – trials, referendums and politics

Queensland

Queensland had a particularly involved debate over daylight-saving time, with public opinion geographically divided. A referendum on daylight saving was held on 22 February 1992, following a three-year trial (1989/90 – 1991/92), and was defeated with a 54.5% 'no' vote. The referendum result displayed a distinct trend – that public opinion on daylight saving in Queensland is geographically divided, with the 'no' vote strongest in the north and west regional districts, while the 'yes' vote was strongest in the state's metropolitan south-east. Since the early 2000s, there have been a number of petitions submitted to Queensland Parliament, lobbying for the introduction of daylight-saving time or for another referendum to be held. A petition in 2006 was signed by 62,232 people. In response to these petitions, then Queensland Premier Peter Beattie commissioned research to find out if daylight-saving time should be re-introduced into Queensland. Around this time, Beattie claimed that daylight-saving time in Queensland would increase the rate of skin cancer in the state, an unfounded claim for which there is no evidence according to the Queensland Cancer Fund. In October 2007, the completed government-commissioned research was presented to a newly sworn-in Premier Anna Bligh, who ruled out holding a new referendum, despite the report indicating 59% of Queensland residents and 69% of South East Queenslanders to be in favour of adopting daylight-saving time. In December 2008, the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland (DS4SEQ) political Party was officially registered, advocating the implementation of a dual-time zone arrangement for daylight saving time in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

while the remainder of the state maintains

standard time Standard time is the synchronization of clocks within a geographical region to a single time standard, rather than a local mean time standard. Generally, standard time agrees with the local mean time at some meridian that passes through the r ...

. The party contested the March 2009 Queensland State election with 32 candidates and received around one percent of the statewide primary vote, equating to around 2.5% across the 32 electorates contested. In early 2010, the DS4SEQ

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

approached independent Member, Peter Wellington, to introduce a private member's Bill for daylight saving. As Wellington agreed with the principles of the DS4SEQ proposal, specifically the dual time zone arrangement, he drafted the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill 2010 and tabled the Bill into Queensland Parliament on 14 April 2010. Wellington has called for a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

to be held at the next State election on the introduction of daylight saving into south-east Queensland under a dual-time zone arrangement. In response to this Bill, Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, announced a community consultation process, which resulted in over 74,000 respondents participating, 64 percent of whom voted in favour of a trial and 63% were in favour of holding a referendum. The decision announced by the Premier on 7 June 2010 was that her Government would not support the Bill, because regional Queenslanders were overwhelmingly opposed to daylight saving. The Bill was defeated in Queensland Parliament on 15 June 2011.

Western Australia

Western Australia also had a particularly involved debate over daylight-saving time, with the issue being put to a referendum four times,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, 1984,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. All were defeated. Voters returned a "no" vote of 54.57% in 2009, the highest in all four referendums. Each referendum followed a trial period during which the state observed daylight saving time. The first three followed a one-year trial, while the 2006 ''Western Australian Daylight Saving Bill (No. 2) 2006'' instituted a daylight-saving trial that began on 3 December 2006 and lasted for three years.

Special events

In 2000, all eastern jurisdictions that normally observe daylight-saving time – New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania – started daylight-saving time early, due to the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. These jurisdictions changed on 27 August 2000. South Australia did not change until the regular time, which that year was on 29 October. In 2006, all states that followed daylight-saving time (the above listed states plus South Australia) delayed the return to their respective Standard Times by a week, due to the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Daylight-saving time ended on 2 April 2006.

History

Daylight saving was first used in Australia during

, and was applied in all states. It was used again during the Second World War. A drought in Tasmania in 1967 led to the reintroduction of daylight saving in that state during the summer, and this was repeated every summer since then. In 1971, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory followed Tasmania by observing daylight saving. Western Australia and the Northern Territory did not. Queensland abandoned daylight saving time in 1972. Originally Tasmania alone commenced daylight saving on the first Sunday in October, while the other states began on the last Sunday in October and finished on the last Sunday in March, until 2008. From 2008/09 daylight saving has been extended another four weeks in NSW, Victoria, SA and the ACT, in addition to Tasmania, from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April. Queensland again trialled daylight saving, for three years between 1989 and 1992, with a referendum on daylight saving held on 22 February 1992, which was defeated with a 54.5% 'no' vote – with regional and rural areas strongly opposed, while those in the metropolitan

were in favour. In December 2008, the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland (DS4SEQ) political party was officially registered, advocating the implementation of a dual-time zone arrangement for Daylight Saving in South East Queensland while the rest of the state maintains

. The party contested the 2009 state election with 32 candidates and received around one percent of the statewide primary vote, equating to around 2.5% across the 32 electorates contested. On 14 April 2010, and after being approached by the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland (DS4SEQ)

, Queensland Independent member Peter Wellington, introduced the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill 2010 into Queensland Parliament, calling for a

to be held at the next State election on the introduction of daylight saving into South East Queensland under a dual-time zone arrangement. The Bill was defeated in Queensland Parliament on 15 June 2011. In Western Australia, four referendums in 1975, 1984, 1992 and 2009 have rejected DST. In 2006, the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

approved a three-year daylight saving trial to be followed by a referendum to decide whether DST should be put in place permanently. However, public opposition mounted during the first year of the trial, and the WA Nationals announced a public campaign to bring the referendum forward to 2007. The trial continued until the referendum, held on 16 May 2009. The result was another rejection of DST, by a larger margin compared to the three previous referendums. Although as previously the suburbs of the state capital,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, supported the proposal, it was by a much narrower margin than before with significant swings against it in several areas, most notably in the East Metropolitan region. As a result, the then Premier Colin Barnett said that the DST issue should not be considered for at least another 20 years. Despite this, in September 2016 the Daylight Saving Party was established by brothers Brett and Wilson Tucker to contest seats in the Legislative Council at the upcoming 2017 state election. Tucker argued that in the seven years since the last referendum there had been a generational shift in Western Australia and that the fifth referendum would be successful. The party won 0.68% of the vote, or 9,209 votes statewide, but failed to win any seat in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. Wilson Tucker went on to win a seat in the

at the 2021 election with only 0.18% of the primary vote. The Northern Territory experimented with daylight saving in the early part of the 20th century. It was last used in 1944. In September 2020, Monash University Professor of Diabetes Paul Zimmet claimed that the switch to daylight saving time caused an increase in heart attacks, road accidents, workplace accidents, and cognitive dysfunction, and could amplify the health issues during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However, Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews responded that daylight saving would be part of the forthcoming summer season. Daylight saving was widely believed to be introduced as a

consumer spending Consumer spending is the total money spent on final goods and services by individuals and households. There are two components of consumer spending: induced consumption (which is affected by the level of income) and autonomous consumption (which ...

initiative by local councils and tourism boards throughout New South Wales.

Sources

*Pearce, C. (2017) "Daylight saving time in Queensland", ''Queensland History Journal'' 23 (6) 389–403.

References

External links

Table of historical start and end dates for daylight saving periods in Australia
{{Oceania topic, Daylight saving time in Articles containing video clips

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...