Please note: This is an extract from Hansard only. Hansard extracts are reproduced with permission from the Parliament of Western Australia.

Date: Wednesday, 25 October 2006

DAYLIGHT SAVING BILL (NO. 2) 2006

Second Reading

MR M.J. BIRNEY (Kalgoorlie) [4.02 pm]: I move -
That the bill be now read a second time.
Today may well be an historic day in the history of our state. The second reading of the Daylight Saving Bill (No. 2) 2006 may well mark the start of a process that leads to the permanent introduction of daylight saving into Western Australia. The concept of daylight saving is thought to have been first raised by Benjamin Franklin in 1776, with no success. It was raised again somewhat more seriously by British builder and fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mr William Willett, in an essay entitled “Waste of Daylight” in 1907. It was not adopted in Britain, however, until April 1916, during World War I, as a wartime measure designed to save energy.
Daylight saving was then adopted by the commonwealth government of Australia on 1 January 1917 and imposed upon all Australian states in order to conserve energy during the First World War. It ceased to operate in March 1917 in Australia before being reintroduced as an energy-saving measure once again in 1942, during the Second World War. On this occasion daylight saving finished in March 1942 and was re-implemented again between September 1942 and March 1943.

Daylight saving then disappeared altogether in Western Australia until a trial was introduced in October 1974, lasting until March 1975. A subsequent referendum saw daylight saving defeated that year by a margin of 3.66 per cent. I am talking about a change of decision margin. A further trial between October 1983 and March 1984 also resulted in a subsequent rejection by the people in the 1984 referendum by a margin of 4.35 per cent. The last trial of daylight saving in WA was between November 1991 and March 1992. This resulted in a rejection in the 1992 referendum by a margin of just 3.14 per cent, the closest result to date.

The fact that three referenda have previously been held on this subject is certainly not an argument against holding another one. It is, in fact, an argument to do the opposite. We need to recognise that people’s lifestyles change substantially over time and that we have a responsibility, and indeed an obligation, as elected members to continually test public opinion regarding issues such as this. In doing so, we can ensure that our policies actually reflect the modern-day lifestyle and not that of yesteryear.

I do not believe that anyone in this chamber could or would argue that we as a society are not working a much longer working day now than we were 14 years ago when the last referendum took place. Indeed, back then it was commonplace to arrive home from work by 5.30 pm. Today, working parents are lucky to get home to their families by 6.30 pm and would no doubt relish the opportunity to spend some quality outdoor time with their children and spouses after work. In my own electorate of Kalgoorlie, the 12-hour shift that results in a worker arriving home from work in the dark is now commonplace. The Perth office fraternity is also working longer and harder and arriving home in the dark.

Daylight saving has the potential to be the glue that bonds families together. It has the capacity to dramatically reduce our unhealthy reliance on the television as our primary source of entertainment after work and it encourages people to get off their backsides out of their lounge rooms and to get outdoors, which I know members will agree is a good thing.

At the other end of the day, I cannot think of one good argument to sustain the view that we should be sleeping whilst the sun is shining. The sun rises in some parts of the state at around 4.30 am during summer. I propose that the sun should rise an hour later in the morning and that we transfer that extra hour of daylight to the other end of the day where it can be gainfully employed.

Western Australia is so rich in natural assets and opportunities that it has the potential to market itself as Australia’s premier lifestyle state. The rest of the country, and indeed the international community, is recognising very quickly that we have the very best beaches, the best major river system, the best climate, the best parks, the best tourism precincts and the best and most interesting country regions in the nation. Eastern staters and internationals are migrating here at a rapid rate of knots. We now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to capitalise on that level of interest.

Whilst daylight saving alone is not the silver bullet, it is a very necessary part of the overall strategy to paint WA as the lifestyle state, the state where living is an experience and not just a state of existence. Melbourne used to be known as the al fresco city. Perth could steal that title without any trouble at all, and daylight saving would ably aid that process.

There are many other arguments in favour of daylight saving. I would like to go through some of them now. Firstly, as I said earlier, daylight saving was originally introduced to conserve energy during times of war. The theory was that if two million people turned their lights on one hour later at night, there would be a significant energy saving, which would obviously have flow-on effects to the environment. This is still a good argument today and remains current. Secondly, it stands to reason that a state should have marginally less road accidents, particularly those involving pedestrians, if motorists are driving whilst the sun is out as opposed to driving at night. This would be the case for one extra hour a day during the earlier evenings under daylight saving.

One argument against daylight saving that I do have some sympathy for is the argument that says it will be marginally harder to get kids to sleep at night. While I accept that this may be an issue for a while, I believe that in time it will become less difficult, as has been the case in the eastern states. I might add, however, that children get out of bed in the morning according to the sun and not according to a clock. This means that under daylight saving, children just might get out of bed one hour later in the morning, which no doubt would give mum and dad that extra bit of time in bed themselves in the morning.

I hesitate to use the pro-business argument to support daylight saving but it is such a powerful argument that I feel I must. A very small percentage of Western Australian businesses, mostly big businesses, deal directly with Asia and would prefer to remain in the same time zone. The reality, however, is that the overwhelming majority of our small to medium-sized businesses draw their stock from the eastern states of Australia. This is the reason that we should stay as close to the eastern states’ time zones as we possibly can. Whether people own a shoe shop, a stationery shop, a pushbike shop or an auto parts shop, as I did, they buy their stock from the east if their business is in Western Australia. I cannot begin to tell members about the frustration that business owners feel when they arrive at work by 9.00 am ready to place an order, only to learn that their eastern state’s counterpart is at lunch. In practice, people really have only about one hour a day to order stock from the east, after lunch breaks and time zone differences are taken into account. This is a serious impediment to business.

For the past six years and beyond, I have campaigned long and hard for the introduction of daylight saving. Indeed, in the very first election flyer that I placed in the letterboxes of people in my electorate of Kalgoorlie, I promised that I would do all that I could to make daylight saving a reality. I ask quite genuinely that all members give favourable consideration to the passage of this bill. I simply say to those members who are undecided that this bill provides for only a trial, and the real question of daylight saving will be decided not by us, but by our constituents in a referendum. One cannot be much fairer than that.

I have sought to coincide our daylight saving trial with daylight saving in the eastern states, which means that each trial will conclude at the end of March. In doing so, however, I recognise that because of our position in the spectrum and our relatively late sunrises in March, it may not be ideal to have daylight saving during that month of March. If this is recognised as a problem during the first trial, I will consider moving, prior to the referendum, an amendment to the legislation that would remove March from any future daylight saving program. It may well be possible to replace it with October, but for the time being I have simply adopted the eastern states’ model, which runs from the end of October through to the end of March.

It seems that the media have reported that this bill will definitely pass through the Parliament. If there is one thing that I have learnt about politics, it is that a person can never take anyone’s vote for granted. I am concerned that members may be getting anti daylight saving e-mails and phone calls only because the pro daylight saving lobby feels that it has no role to play, given that the media have reported that the bill will pass. My message to members of the pro daylight saving lobby is to get into gear, to not take anything for granted and to seize the opportunity to communicate with their members of Parliament.

Finally, in closing I sincerely thank the member for Ballajura, John D’Orazio, who is the co-sponsor and the co-architect of this bill. His willingness to put party politics aside in the interests of progressing the bill is commendable and deserves to be formally recorded. I also extend my sincere appreciation to the Premier and the Deputy Premier, who have indicated their support for the bill.

From a personal perspective, I think that genuine debates that involve members having a free vote, only from time to time, are very rewarding and much better reflect the nature of our work as members of Parliament. I look forward to discussing the contents of this bill with any member, and I will make myself available at short notice at any time of the day or night to answer any questions that members may have. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned, on motion by Mr E.S. Ripper (Deputy Premier).