Sun

• Many will argue that daylight saving is pointless, outdated or even unhealthy, and we need to get rid of it.
• In sharp contrast to what many sensationalised reports and opinions might suggest, my research results indicate the vast majority of Australians – 80% – support daylight saving.
• That said, there were some differences between those who support daylight saving and those who do not.

So who typically supports daylight saving?

• Supporters of daylight saving are more likely to be female, higher-income, urban and employed full-time.
• Support for daylight saving is strongest among Australian Greens and Liberal Party voters.
• Supporters of daylight saving also tend to live farther south, where the difference between summertime and wintertime daylight hours is greater.

Why do we have daylight saving?

• The basic premise for daylight saving is that afternoon daylight is more useful than early morning daylight, so we “borrow” an hour.
• Read more:
  Daylight savings: how an hour of extra sunlight can benefit your mental health

  Could we just wake up earlier?

• So, although daylight saving may seem anachronistic, it appears to be the most palatable solution for adjusting to seasonal changes in day length.

Confusing time zones are a problem

• Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia and ACT have observed daylight saving since 1971, but it gets much more complicated than this.
• In the winter, Australian states and territories observe three time zones.
• When we include territorial dependencies such as Norfolk and Christmas Islands, Australia observes ten time zones in the summertime, or 11 if you count Eucla’s local time zone.
• The following maps show current time zones in summer and winter, and the proposed alternatives discussed below.

How could daylight saving be improved?

• “Permanent daylight saving” is an idea that would realign Australia’s current time zones so as to obviate the need for the biannual change.
• This would permanently shift Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne an hour or half-hour forward.
• Many similar proposals have been floated in both the United States and Europe, most notably the US Sunshine Protection Act.
• Read more:
  As the US pushes to make daylight saving permanent, should Australia move in the same direction?

Thomas Sigler receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
This study was funded by the Office of Wilson Tucker MLC, independent member for the Mining and Pastoral Region in the parliament of Western Australia.