‘OMG, we’re back here again’: daylight saving returns

Andrew Stafford |

The time difference is no joke on the NSW-Queensland border, as business owner Ellen Clark knows.
The time difference is no joke on the NSW-Queensland border, as business owner Ellen Clark knows.

Same headache, new year.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, daylight saving kicks in for the long Australian summer, when clocks skip forward by an hour from 2am to 3am.

But while the citizens of NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT will enjoy an extra hour of sunshine after clocking off, Queensland remains the eastern seaboard outlier.

People watch sunrise at Bondi Beach in Sydney, NSW
The eastern seaboard will again have an extra hour of sunlight after work, except Queensland. (Steven Saphore/AAP PHOTOS)

Daylight saving is an annual talking point on the Gold Coast, with Mayor Tom Tate on Wednesday reiterating calls for daylight saving to be introduced in Queensland’s southeast corner.

Cr Tate suggested drawing a new time zone boundary north of Noosa – cheekily acknowledging the lack of support elsewhere from cows and the wider dairy industry.

But for businesses in the NSW border town of Tweed Heads, as well as Coolangatta on the Queensland side, the issue is no joke.

Ellen Clark, a cosmetic nurse, recently opened a business in Tweed Heads and is bracing herself for late arrivals from her clientele, most of whom are in Queensland.

“It’s going to be interesting trying to navigate that,” she told AAP.

Previously, Ms Clark commuted to Brisbane for work from Tweed Heads, where her partner is based, but decided to set up shop locally after the birth of her first child.

“I used to have to stay on Queensland time while my partner would operate on NSW time,” she said.

“It kind of came to my attention yesterday and I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re back here again’.”

Sean McMillan is also new to Tweed Heads, having just set up a barber shop on Bay Street.

“All my systems go off bookings, so I’m trying to do some research, and I’m changing my hours a little bit to catch people on both sides of the border,” he told AAP.

Ellen Clark, owner of Tweed Heads based business Nurse Ellen
Ellen Clark is bracing for late arrivals for her business after daylight saving takes affect. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

“I’m sure there’ll be people coming in an hour early or an hour late for bookings … It’s just one of those puzzles to work out.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli was not keen to buy into Cr Tate’s suggestion when asked about the issue by reporters in Mackay on Thursday.

“I’ve lived at both ends of the state, and I’m here for uniting Queensland, not dividing it,” he said.

Queensland trialled daylight saving between 1989 and 1992 before being comprehensively rejected in a state referendum.

AAP