PREMIER Geoff Gallop recently declined to support a referendum on daylight saving in Western Australia.
We believe it is time that WA moved forward and had a re-trial and referendum on daylight saving. It has been more than 10 years since the last trial and much has changed in that time.
Daylight saving allows citizens to take advantages of the wonderful weather that we experience in the summer months.
It encourages a more active and healthy lifestyle because of the additional hour of sunlight at the end of the day.
For the business community – in this era of instantaneous communication and increased business with the eastern States of Australia – the introduction of daylight saving provides continuity of time difference between the summer and winter months, and facilitates easier communication because the day is not ‘half over’ before we have started work.
The last time daylight saving was trialled one of the key negative arguments was that children came home from school at the hottest part of the day.
In fact from November to March the largest average difference in temperature between 2pm and 3pm is 0.6 degrees Celsius, which is a negligible amount.
Other detractors argued that the sun did not rise early enough in the morning.
Presently the sun rises at 5am and even earlier in high summer, which would mean the sun would rise at approximately 6am. This allows plenty of time for those morning risers, as this is the time the sun rises in other parts of the year.
We feel very strongly about daylight saving and have started a petition which we intend to present to parliament.
We would encourage any readers who support the re-trial and introduction of daylight saving into WA to contact us at daylightsavingwa@hotmail.com for a copy of the petition and more information on the benefits of daylight saving to the citizens of this State.
Clare Pope and Caroline Bell
Perth