Daylight saving in spotlight

QUEENSLAND’S migration boom could spark a fresh debate on daylight saving, according to a leading demographer.

More than 30,000 southerners have relocated to Queensland in the past year to escape the Covid gloom engulfing other states, but Thomas Sigler, a senior human geographer at the University of Queensland, said they could have “mover’s remorse” once the reality of life without daylight saving sets in.

Clocks in southern states will again move forward one hour this weekend, leaving Queensland behind the times compared with most of the country’s population.

Dr Sigler has headed up a new study on daylight saving showing a majority of Queenslanders support its return, almost 30 years since a daylight saving trial and failed referendum.

He said millions of Queenslanders were not old enough to vote at the 1992 referendum, while an estimated 30,000 new arrivals from southern states used to daylight saving also had a right to be heard.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk again shot down talk of a new push for daylight saving.

“I would say to the southern states, they should just be on Queensland time,” she said.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has also been reluctant to buy into the daylight saving debate.