Liberal Party

• Many will argue that daylight saving is pointless, outdated or even unhealthy, and we need to get rid of it.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.

• For the Liberals, Morrison’s departure is a significant symbolic “moving on” moment.
• The Coalition Morrison is exiting is a mixed bunch, in terms of performance, illustrated by the first weeks of this year.
• The opposition could not have avoided being outfoxed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s bold reworking of the tax cuts.
• The Liberals used material from this week’s Senate estimates hearing to pound Immigration Minister Andrew Giles in the House of Representatives.
• Among the Nationals, their Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, has proved very effective this term, notably on Qantas and Qatar Airways.
• Once hailed as a great “retail” politician, Joyce at the 2022 election was considered a retail negative in many Liberal seats.
• While he is in parliament, the Nationals will remain a tinderbox (even though they manage to hold their seats).

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The explanation being given is that the alcohol didn’t mix with medication he is on.
• Campion and some Coalition colleagues have criticised the fact the person shot a video rather than giving Joyce some help.
• Joyce, also caught up in other controversy at the time, ended up quitting the Nationals leadership and the deputy prime ministership.
• If Littleproud disciplined Joyce – for example by removing him from the frontbench – he potentially could make trouble for himself.

• But research also shows quotas can divide public opinion, and they work better in some contexts than others.
• With this in mind, we wanted to test alternative measures to support women in politics, which also attract public support.
• And so, women need more support to ensure they can run for local government and be supported once in office.
• Read more:
  The Liberal Party is failing women miserably compared to other democracies, and needs quotas

Challenges for women politicians

• Women face unique challenges as politicians.
• Our research shows a major issue facing women politicians is their competing work and family roles.
• Trying to meet the demands of work, family and politics creates role strain for women politicians.

Gender responsive governments

• Governments have long toyed with the question: how do you centre gender in decision-making to create governments that support women and men equally?
• To understand these questions, we conducted an experiment drawing reponses from more than 25,000 people in Australia, Canada and the United States.
• They are thinking about re-running in the next election but find managing work and family life to be difficult.

Where to from here?

• Well, it is clear that women need additional resources to remain in office.
• We know from decades of national statistics that women are underrepresented in all areas of government – local, state and federal.
• Our latest work finds that citizens are supportive of these concrete solutions to support women in politics and lift women’s participation rate.

Leah Ruppanner receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a grant with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). Andrea Carson receives funding from an ARC Linkage grant with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). This latest research was supported through Professor Carson's fellowship with the Women's Leadership Institute Australia (WILA).