The introduction of daylight saving time is almost upon us, with Small Business Minister Margaret Quirk and the Perth Airport urging Western Australians to make sure they are ready.
At 2am on Sunday, Western Australian time will officially move forward one hour to 3am, commencing a three-year daylight saving trial, although Ms Quirk encouraged people to wind their clocks forward prior to going to bed.
"The change to daylight saving early on Sunday should not present any major problems for the small business sector, but people should make the necessary changes to computers and other electronic equipment in advance to avoid last minute hiccups," she said.
Ms Quirk said Microsoft had warned that some glitches could occur with its Outlook program, which could affect appointments and scheduling, but patches were available for download to address the issue.
"Many businesses run specialised applications that rely on date/time stamps that will need to be synchronised to the new time zone of Western Daylight Saving Time," the Minister said.
"Similar adjustments may also need to be made for forward bookings when clocks are returned to normal on March 25, 2007."
Perth Airport took the opportunity to advise that arrival and departure times could be impacted by the time change, and advised concerned passengers to contact their airlines.
A comprehensive checklist with advice for home and business is available from the State Government's website at http://www.wa.gov.au/daylightsavingchecklist/
The Government's Community Access Line (9222 9449) can provide daylight saving information to people who do not have access to the Internet.
In 2007 and 2008, daylight saving will begin at 2am standard time on the last Sunday in October, and end at 2am standard time on the last Sunday in March the following year.
