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Australia Decided Daylight Saving by Referendum, and Got Different Answers

In most countries, whether to move the clocks is decided by a government. In Australia it has repeatedly been decided by the public — state by state, and they have not agreed.

Daylight saving first arrived in Australia by federal law during the two world wars, imposed nationally under the defence power: for three months in 1917, and for three summers from 1942. Both times it ended with the war.

The peacetime story starts in 1968, when Tasmania adopted it alone. In 1971 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT joined a trial running from 31 October 1971 to 27 February 1972.

Then the answers started diverging.

New South Wales liked it. In 1972 the state made it permanent, and when the question was put to voters at the 1976 state election, the referendum carried comfortably. Sydney has changed its clocks every year since.

Queensland did not. It dropped out in 1972, tried again for three summers from 1989, and then held a referendum on 22 February 1992 — which was defeated. The last full day of daylight saving in Queensland was 29 February 1992. It has not been back.

The reasons given in Queensland were specific rather than stubborn: much of the state is tropical, where seasonal daylight barely changes and there is nothing to save; the summers are already extremely hot; and farmers objected. Queensland's own Daylight Saving Task Force had noted that the south-east around Brisbane was "clearly in favour," and recommended splitting the state into two time zones east and west of 151° east. That was not adopted either.

Western Australia has voted on it four times — 1975, 1984, 1992 and 2009 — and rejected it every time.

The clock: the result is that daylight saving in Australia is not a national policy but a running disagreement, settled by ballot, differently, in different places.

Which is arguably the most honest way anyone in this series has handled the question. Everywhere else, a government moved the clock and told people afterwards. Australia asked.

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