Daylight saving not needed in state’s west

I HAVE read with interest the debate on daylight saving and no one has ever put some figures in for consideration.

The sun does not rise at the same time in every place in Queensland.

In fact the sun rises and sets half an hour later in Charleville every day of the year than in Brisbane. This means everything including the hottest part of the day would normally be this much later than in Brisbane.

For a comparison I used my Elders app to research different towns’ sunrise and sunset on New Year’s Eve. I compared Toowoomba, Cairns, Mt Isa and Melbourne out of interest because Melbourne is only slightly east of Charleville.

Toowoomba (sr 4.59am ss 6.51pm), Cairns (sr 5.46am ss 6.51pm), Mt Isa (sr 6.04am ss 7.45pm) and Melbourne (times adjusted to non daylight saving - sr 5am ss 7.45pm).

This clearly shows that the further south you go the longer the day is but also the further west you go the later the sunrise and set except for Toowoomba and Melbourne.

If you don’t believe me GPS coordinates for these places don’t lie.

As a result of this research, for the parents of children living west of the 145 degree meridian, I see no value in daylight saving at all and I’m sure anyone out there who has an outdoors job would agree that daylight saving is not worth it.

I would like to challenge the supporters of daylight saving to leave their air-conditioned offices and volunteer as reading aides in any school west of the 145 meridian for terms one and four in any year because these are the hottest months and the time that would be affected if daylight saving is introduced in Queensland.

I am sure most principals would be grateful for your help and this will be of benefit to the children. — JON FERGUSON, Toowoomba

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