PerthNorg

You know what - I think he is right

DS has some really could points

But honestly I think it is outweighed by the bad.

The scorcher we had over the LWE sealed it for me.

It is absolutely no surprise that this has come out after the hottest weekend that we have had in a long while, and in the week that children go back to school. Regardless of whether we had daylight saving or not, we would have been uncomfortable last weekend. It was still 38 deg at 10.00pm on Friday. That is unusual, and the extra hour time difference didn’t make it any better or worse. It was just very,very hot! I have just been in Victoria, where they are having an unusually hot summer, as they did last summer. No-one there is complaining about daylight saving…. especially as they enjoy the plethora of outdoor evening and twilight events that particularly Melbourne is renowned for.
I don’t think we should let one stinking weekend outweigh all the benefits of daylight saving.

Here’s an email doing the rounds:

Hi…
Following an overwhelming response to end daylight saving, The Nationals WA will submit a Private Member’s Bill when Parliament resumes next month, calling on the State Government to initiate a referendum on daylight saving before October 31, 2007 rather than waiting until 2009.

I have attached a media release and a petition (PDF) for your perusal. If you are not in favour of daylight saving, please take a moment to answer our online poll at www.nationalswa.com .

In addition, feel free to circulate the petition as far and wide as possible and return to either The Leaders Office, Parliament House, Harvest Tce WA 6000 or the Merredin Electorate Office, P.O. Box 66, Merredin WA 6415.

We look forward to your response and thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Jane Simpson
Media Adviser
to Brendon Grylls MLA
Parliamentary Leader, The Nationals WA

This is really sad. Why can’t West Australians just give this a go? I can’t help but fear that it was doomed from the very start and even if the three year trial is allowed to be played out, the outcome will be that DLS will not pass at referendum.

I think next year’s DLS will be much easier to swallow with a timely and more gradual ease into the hotter months rather than a brutal shock to the system with it starting in Dec like last year. Let’s just hope there is enough sense and support of it out there to keep the trial in place so that informed decisions can be made!

I’m sorry to be rude, but country people need to shut up, concentrate on farm management practices and let the overwhelming majority of us urban dwellers make the decisions about daylight savings.

Quite frankly you would have to be an idiot to think that the sun setting one hour earlier over the past few days would have made life more comfortable.

The overnight minimum isn’t usually reached until 6.00am, so it’s hardly likely that dropping DS now will have any effect at all in helping us to beat the heat.

The Nats have hated this from the start and are using the hot weather as an insidious tool to get people onside. Trust me, when the temp hits 35-40 degrees, it’s going to be a stinker regardless of daylight savings.

The Nats are irrelevant and their opinions have about as much weight as the crackpot alcoholic who screams about Jesus and the end is nigh. Just go away please and stop embarrasing us.

Well said cookie2.

It sounds to me the government have listened to the majority out there and implemented a trial DLS. I am sure the government will also be wise to this action of the Nationals, begging for sympathy on behalf of the farmers.

Just found this on the website http://www.daylightsavingparty.org.au/benefits.htm.
I am not a member.

Benefits of Daylight Saving Time

The primary aim of Daylight Saving Time is to make a positive improvement in the quality of life for all Western Australians.

Environment

Daylight Saving Time allows people to use the added sunlight in the evening, therefore it delays the use of electricity…

Family

Daylight Saving Time will allow more time for family activities. Children often miss out on interacting with a parent or parents who return late from work in the evening…

Lifestyle

The implementation of Daylight Saving Time will add an extra hour of sunlight in the evening to allow Western Australians to enjoy the sunshine. There will be more time enjoy recreational activities, especially outdoor activities…

Health

The modern Western Australian lifestyle has limited opportunities to exercise…

Safety

Daylight Saving Time has been shown to reduce fatalities on our roads…

Economic

There will be greater economic efficiency with the implementation of Daylight Saving Time…

What is in the minds of Perth people that makes them cling so firmly to the status quo, whether daylight saving, trading hours or any other change that’s proposed?

Yes the long weekend was uncomfortably hot, but would have been so regardless of daylight saving, with night time temperatures around 30.

If the doomsayers are to be believed, climate change is going to continue to increase mean temperatures. If that is the case, ought we not to wind our clocks incrementally backward each year?!

(I have a feeling that a good proportion of WA residents are responding with a resounding “Yes!!… back to the 1950s”

Polemic, you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head, WA people simply hate change.

And as I’ve stated many a time, we’re living in a community that prides itself on a mentality of ’start early, finish early, must water my lawn to within an inch of its life, musn’t let anybody overtake me, can’t go shopping on a Sunday, etc, etc’

I’ll betcha that Peter Nattrass is anti-daylight savings… unless the West Coast Eagles are for it, then he’s definitely on side. Anyone else think that his burning barges were karma for calling Freo a poor cousin?

I am tired of Perth people talking down change for the sake of leaving things as they’ve “always been”. Why are we still fighting something that is the standard elsewhere across Australia?

Other people have rightly commented we remain backward on many issues. So long as you have a mind of “this is bad” you will quickly assemble a list of justifications to support this bias.

I know the reverse others will argue is also true but Perth people don’t tend to talk UP change and if you want to bury change, a referendum is the BEST way of killing it. Look at shopping hours, the republic etc etc. This issue was one of the first times in recent WA history where some leadership was shown to tackle resistence to change.

Now that this story is a bit old, and every is looking at the main news stories (and that I have few minutes up my sleeve on a Friday afternoon) I will try and slip this one in unnoticed, just to seal the deal:

The backwards looking, 1950’s harking, ‘my curtains will fade’ caricature that DLS proponets paint of those against DLS, is a propaganda campaign Goebbles himself would have been proud of. And the antipathy shown towards anyone who might dare disagree is almost vicious!

Given my circumstances and the way I operate DLS just doesn’t work. I end up up working later, I sleep in and the kids always end up going to bed later. Now - you say “well change!” and I say “get nicked!”. If you want to change for that - then that’s fine - have your vote. But stop expecting me to change for something you care about more than I do!

I think the real differnece here is that I am prepared to accept whatever the majority want - whereas others will dismiss people just because they don’t see things the same way they do.

Quick - get out your thesaurus! “old-fashioned, nostalgic, anti progressive…”

OH FOR SHAME!!!!

daylight saving sucks