Daylight Saving Poll Urgently Needed
This time last year, I wrote a blog about daylight saving which received more likes than any blog I have ever written. That either says something about the quality of previous blogs, or hopefully shows that a lot of people in South East Queensland are passionate about this topic.
The complacency continues…
Unfortunately, twelve months on and Queensland is still in the dark ages despite the Billions in lost revenue to the State each year. So, what will it take to change the minds of the politicians in Queensland? Well, I recently had a chat to our local State member who indicated that whilst she believed most Queenslanders would support daylight saving, the farmers and folk up North would object. Clearly, the State Government prefers to take a low risk, steady as she goes approach which means that they will sit on their hands and nothing will happen.
What are we waiting for? Let’s create more jobs and boost the economy!
Judging from my random poll over the recent Christmas break I would safely say that 70% of South East Queenslanders would support daylight saving if only given the chance to have a vote. So, the big question is how to get the Government or media to take another major poll on the subject? With all the talk about creating jobs, the easiest thing to do to create a boost for our economy would be to run another daylight saving trial. We are about to have hundreds of thousands of overseas visitors come to the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games and whilst daylight saving officially ends on 1st April this could be extended till the 15th April in Queensland. Guaranteed to create more jobs and boost the State economy.
In January 2017, and having been 25 years since Queensland did it’s last trial, Brisbane City Council’s Deputy Major Adrian Schrinner believed it was time to give daylight saving a “fresh go”. He created a poll which had a large majority of over 80% of votes leaning towards yes. However, it took it a step further than that and an e-petition was made, which was then tabled at the end of February 2017 but most importantly had over 23,000 signatures. In December, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate spoke out about daylight saving time in Queensland stating he is for it because of the economic growth. So, what’s happening now?
How can we motivate other local politicians?
I’m looking for other suggestions as to how we can motivate the local politicians into action and get something happening. Maybe the local Government politicians on the Gold Coast and Brisbane have a bit more fire in the belly and are willing to listen to the majority of their constituents? After all, the old argument around cows, curtains and kids just does not stack up anymore and unless someone can explain how in NSW, Victoria and South Australia all those things work just fine then the only argument left for the minority of Queenslanders who object to daylight saving is the reluctance to change habits. This, like any change, will be well forgotten after two to three weeks and jobs and the economy will be the big winners in Queensland. #GOdaylightsavingsforQLD