Acting Queensland Premier Jackie Trad has expressed her personal support for daylight saving, despite acknowledging that she lives in a state full of people who’d rather fumble about in the dark all summer long like the troglodytes and contrarians we are.
Many Queensland councils, including Brisbane, Townsville, the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Moreton Bay and Mackay, are behind finally getting Queensland on board the Fun Train to Long Summer Nights, with Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson calling our lack of daylight saving “a bit of an embuggerance in terms of business“.
And according to a recent online poll set up by Brisbane Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner, about 88% of the 7200 Queenslanders who responded are also in favour of swinging into line with the rest of the East Coast (bearing in mind the sort of person who responds to an online poll, natch).
Unfortunately, Agricultural Minister and Big Party Pooper Bill Byrne has dashed everyone’s hopes of not having to do equations in order to ascertain whether it’s an acceptable hour to call your Gran in Melbourne, telling the ‘Brisbane Times’ that the issue is absolutely not a priority for the Queensland government. BOO.
Trad clearly loves the idea of a sensible relationship with the changing characteristics of the seasons, telling journalists:
“Daylight saving, can I say from a personal perspective, daylight saving is a fantastic thing – I love it.“
But history is against us, with a 1992 referendum on the matter failing miserably, and a 2010 poll of 70,000 Queenslanders showing that 70% of the regional participants were vehemently anti-daylight saving.
To be fair, anywhere north of the Tropic of Capricorn (which coincides roughly with Rockhampton) is well into tropical time-zone country, which means 12-hour days all year round. No point in having daylight saving there, I will concede. But for the rest of us – please, for the love of God – just let us into the light.
Or do this. This would be fine too.
And for those in South East Queensland who oppose the introduction of this very reasonable and easy to cope with thing: do you actually know how time works? DO YOU?
Because it sure doesn’t seem like it.
Source: Brisbane Times.
Image: Naphakm / Getty.
