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Petition received.
A petition signed by 317 residents of South Australia, requesting the house to urge the government to move South Australia to true Central Standard Time of our correct Greenwich Mean Time of 135 degrees longitude, being one hour behind the eastern states and one hour ahead of Western Australia, at 2 a.m. on Sunday 27 March 2005 at the end of daylight saving time, was presented by Mrs Penfold. Petition received.
A petition
signed by 1563 residents of South Australia, requesting the house to urge
the government to move South Australia to true Central Standard Time of our
correct Greenwich Mean Time of 135 degrees longitude being one hour behind
the eastern states and one hour ahead of Western Australia, at 2 am on
Sunday 27 March 2005 at the end of daylight saving time, was presented by
Mrs Penfold.
Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders):
Today, I was very pleased to present a petition containing more than 1 500
signatures obtained in a few weeks, without any effort, in support of South
Australia moving to true Central Standard Time. The quickest and strongest
support for this proposal came from the aeronautical and marine sectors. I
was delighted to receive today, through my web site guestbook, an email from
a pilot, Mr Peter Mitchell, in support of true Central Standard Time, as
follows: There is the potential for a safety issue in both sending and understanding the correct arrival time. I am strongly in favour of both eliminating the half hour and doing it by moving to UTC plus 9 hours.
Mr
Alan Paterson of Marsden said that ever since he became a pilot in the Royal
Australian Air Force some years ago he has been a supporter of South
Australia moving to our correct time zone of 135°
longitude. Mr Andrew Maitland of Aldgate offered ample information about the
need for South Australia to move to Greenwich Mean Time plus nine hours,
which I have consistently referred to as True Central Standard Time. He
commented: Looking at Australia as a whole, it makes sense to have three times zones differing by one hour; that is, the Eastern States one hour ahead of South Australia and South Australia on True Central Standard Time one hour ahead of Western Australia. It is also easier for travellers to understand and, as has already been alluded to, is safer for the aeronautical and marine sectors. One of the intangibles when discussing time is the power supply.
South
Australia purchases power from the Eastern States, with the cost of power
fluctuating wildly from, I understand, $20 to $10 000 a megawatt hour.
Adopting True Central Standard time would offset the periods of peak use
and, therefore, probably enable power to be bought more cheaply. A
constituent who spent five years on the board of a national company and who
did business with clients and the head offices of companies in both the east
and west of Australia said in 1999: These points barely touch on the positive arguments for moving South Australia to True Central Standard Time. However, I am hopeful that some debate will be generated as we once again move towards the end of daylight saving and can sleep in for an extra hour on Sunday morning of 27 March. We could so easily have slept in for an hour and a half and ended the stupidity of the half hour difference between South Australia and the Eastern States for all time. Adopting True Central Standard Time gives this state a tourism and trading advantage, especially in the lucrative export markets.
Wednesday
16 February 2005 Adjourned debate on second reading. (Continued from 8 December. Page 1235.) Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders): Once again, in my view, we have a move to emasculate South Australia by adding it to New South Wales and Victoria—a move which I think is based on fallacies, ignorance and a lack of self-belief in South Australia as a state. It demotes this state in every possible way, especially in the business domain which fallaciously is used as one of the principal arguments for putting forward this bill. The fallacies behind the bill and the ignorance of the mover were highlighted in the immediate negative public response to the proposal, and a definite thumbs down for shifting South Australia’s time half an hour forward. Many responses asked instead for South Australia to be moved to true Central Standard Time; that is, one hour behind the Eastern States. These numerous phone calls and letters came from metropolitan Adelaide to my Port Lincoln office. It seems that many metropolitan members of parliament, especially on the government benches, are out of touch with their electorates. Proponents of the current time zones said that business wanted it. I believe that is an argument used by those who want this state to lose its identity by moving to Eastern Standard Time. A survey conducted by the South Australian Employers’ Chamber in 1988 of 150 selected businesses found that only half were in favour of moving to Eastern Standard Time. Prior to that, a survey conducted in 1986 brought only an 8 per cent response, 50 per cent of whom opposed a move to Eastern Standard Time. All this points to a very small proportion of South Australia’s business community being in favour of Eastern Standard Time, with the majority opposed to such a move. If South Australian businesses were so disadvantaged by the half hour time difference with New South Wales and Victoria, then those businesses would change their working hours to fit with Eastern Standard Time. If the argument were correct in our current situation, then Western Australian business should be a basket case, and Queensland, which does not even have daylight saving, would also be going backwards during daylight saving. In fact, Western Australia and Queensland are arguably the two most prosperous Australian states. Western Australia’s population has grown by 1 million in about 35 years, while South Australia’s has remained almost stagnant. It seems that there is a small group of South Australian people who are 100 years behind the times. They obviously do not talk with this state’s exporters, who see an advantage in this state’s moving to a time zone more compatible with Japan, Korea and China. The chief argument used in 1898 in favour of adopting this state’s current time zone related to communications. Communications have changed dramatically in the 107 years since that debate. Nevertheless, even as long ago as that, doubt was cast on the validity of the argument—again, using Western Australia. The Hon. A.W. Sanford said the business people of the eastern colonies obtained an advantage over those in South Australia because they received their telegrams from Western Australia and their cables one hour earlier. To which the Hon. G. McGregor replied that the speaker had obviously forgotten that Western Australians were not about until two hours after the inhabitants of the eastern colonies. To an interjection that Western Australia handed in their telegrams the night before, Mr McGregor retorted that this meant South Australians had an hour’s advantage in the evening. Now communications have advanced from the days of morse code and limited telegraph connections. Telegrams are virtually a forgotten relic of the past. Remember the telegrams at weddings; when did members last receive a telegram or hear a telegram read? I suggest that the majority of people under 35 would not know what a telegram is, it is so outdated. Mobile phones, text messages and emails are just three examples of the latest technology that allows immediate communication anywhere in the world at any hour of the day or night, regardless of the clock time. Emails and text messages are a regular feature of business and private communications. They can be sent at any time, and they sit on the computer or the phone until the receiver chooses to open them at a time to suit him or herself. Anything of grave importance can be communicated immediately. We can sit in our lounges and watch events such as the tragedy of the tsunami as they unfold. We live in a different world from that of 1898 yet, according to the proponents of this bill, nothing has changed in the business world in the past 100 years or so. Businesses which believe they must move to Eastern Standard Time to improve their businesses but which nevertheless do not change their business operating hours by 30 minutes to support their argument negate their own spurious case. They should be advised of the advances in technology as they apply to communications. Stan Webster of Henley Beach, in a letter to The Advertiser on 9 December 2004 wrote: If Kris Hanna is a true ‘Greenie’ he would be advocating that South Australia change to its true time zone which is one hour behind Eastern Standard Time. His proposed bill should be to reverse the 1898 decision and revert to our proper time zone, not make the situation worse. The advantages would be many. Adelaide would then appear on world charts in its own right and not disappear as an appendage to the Eastern States as it does now. Stan is typical of the people and the comments that place our little piece of the globe firmly in the spotlight on the world stage, rather than as a dead glow-worm in a forgotten cage. Submissions to a committee in 1995 indicated that a half hour meridian created confusion and was dangerous in transport and communication due to the greater possibility of misinterpretation. The various ways of stating the time were given as an example. We usually say ‘half past o’clock’, while others say ‘half after the hour’ or ‘half on the hour’. In an emergency it would be easy for someone to misunderstand what actual time was meant. An interesting side comment occurred in response to the suggestion that South Australia move to Eastern Standard Time. It was that the eastern states should move to come in line with our time, that is, move their time back half an hour, the reverse of what this bill proposes. Let us look for a moment at the set times we currently use. Eastern standard time is already in the Tasman Sea off the east coast of Australia; what is called Central Standard Time, which South Australia and the Northern Territory use, runs through Warrnambool in Victoria; while Western Australia’s time runs through about the centre of that state. Western Australia has only one time zone, there being no such thing as a second central Western Australian time as mentioned by the member for Mitchell when speaking to this bill. Maybe the honourable member imagined he was in Brigadoon, the fabled Scottish town that comes to life once a year in its own time zone. Perhaps it is used in the Hutt River Province. A call to almost anyone in Western Australia will quickly verify that Western Australia has only one official time zone. The only confusion appears to come from the honourable member for Mitchell, who opposed the bill. Doubtless, the honourable member has come across the unofficial border time used along the Eyre Highway from Border Village to Kingoonya. The 90-minute time difference between South Australia and Western Australia is broken into two 45-minute increments for the benefit of those who travel along this route. During daylight saving the two increments would be 75 minutes each. Mr Hanna: So you do know about it. Mrs PENFOLD: It is very unofficial, though. The small practical application of time management again points to the need for South Australia to be on true Central Standard Time. To return to Australian time zones, add in daylight saving and there are no less than five time zones across Australia—small wonder that aviators and seafarers push for a change to true Central Standard Time as a safety measure. One of the arguments put forward for South Australia to move to Eastern Standard Time is that countries covering similar or greater degrees of longitude have only one time zone. If Australia had one time zone then realistically it would be true central standard time, that is, one half-hour behind South Australia’s current time. Rex Jory commented in his Advertiser column on 5 August 2004 that the whole of China has only one time zone, but he did not suggest that Australia might do the same, nor add the $64 question of what that time zone should be if South Australia went to one time zone. Try to imagine Western Australia on Eastern Standard Time. Currently, 9.30 a.m. in Perth is 12.30 p.m. in Sydney during daylight saving. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra said its time zone is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Time, so it is the same as in Western Australia. China is set to eventually overtake the United States of America as the largest economy in the world. Therefore, perhaps we should look at adopting Western Australian time for the whole of South Australia. The embassy spokesman also said China had tried daylight saving and had abandoned it as irrelevant for most of the country, and confusing. The debate that this state must align itself with the New South Wales and Victorian time zone is fallacious. Note that I say aligning with New South Wales and Victoria rather than the eastern states. To talk about Eastern Standard Time is in itself a fallacy, because Queensland does not have daylight saving. This rather subtle point came out in Rex Jory’s article. This in itself destroys the fallacy that the same clock time is essential for business. If the arguments put forward for changing South Australian time were valid, then surely Queensland would have adopted daylight saving at the same time as New South Wales and Victoria took on the practice. Time expired Pg 1659 Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders): Once again, I thank the member for Mitchell for seeing the merit in perhaps having true Central Standard Time and hope he will consider supporting it, as I hope others will—although maybe not this time but in the future. I will refer to some comments of which Mr Vaughan and Business SA should take note. Recent statements in The Advertiser would indicate that there is a lot of support for this measure, perhaps more than people realise. Kay
Matthews of Strathalbyn states:
Elizabeth Dew of Ceduna states:
Paul Scott of Wattle Park states:
Peter Stocking of Edithburgh said:
My sentiments exactly, Mr Stocking. I therefore urge all of South Australia, and particularly at this time the members of the house, to have pride in our state, to acknowledge our achievements, to have confidence in our ability, to be leaders not followers, and let us have true Central Standard Time. I support the bill. The house divided on the second reading: AYES (12)
Brindal, M. K. Buckby, M. R.
Chapman, V. A. Gunn, G. M.
Hamilton-Smith, M. L. J.
Matthew, W. A. McFetridge, D. NOES (34)
Atkinson, M. J. Bedford, F. E.
Breuer, L. R. Brokenshire,
R. L. Brown, D. C.
Caica, P. Ciccarello, V.
Conlon, P. F. Majority of 22 for the noes. Second reading thus negatived. The SPEAKER: Without reflecting on the division result, I place on record my own views containing material not provided by other honourable members as I believe ought to be placed on the record at this time. Were we to align ourselves with our true meridian, we would be aligning ourselves with Japan, Korea and Eastern Siberia, rather than being seen as a branch office of the eastern part of Australia. The other point I place on the record for all honourable members is that airline pilots see us as a joke in that we cannot make up our minds where we belong in the world, even though that is clearly determined for us by geography. Our present position is, of course, a hangover from over a hundred years ago when we made a deal with the eastern states to adjust our time to a time which would be a compromise between their standard time and ours and, as with the railway gauges, they refused to do that. In the final analysis, they just never carried it through. So, we do not have a standard time with eastern Australia in the same way that we never had a standard railway gauge. The exigencies of the railway gauge were seen to be obvious after 70-odd years and were done away with. Sooner or later, now that we are in this day and age of the internet, automatic pilots and so on in aircraft, we will wake up to the fact that we ought to align ourselves with the conventional time zone in which we are located on the face of this earth and enjoy the benefits of doing so. Finally, I make the point that across America there is no detrimental consequence for commerce in any way, shape or form between Atlantic coast time, central time (otherwise known as prairie time)—that is, the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Stock Exchange—the business interests and stock exchanges of Las Vegas and Denver in mountain time, and the business interests and stock exchanges of San Francisco and Los Angeles in Pacific coast time, and Hawaii; none of those time zones, all being an hour apart, suffer any disadvantage whatever in consequence of them accepting the time zone in which the state happens to fall. To my mind the arguments about that, put by the captains of industry, are specious. I thank the house for its attention.
CENTRAL STANDARD TIME Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders) obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend The Standard Time Act 1898. Read a first time. Mrs PENFOLD: I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I believe that it is a matter of state pride and commonsense that we move to true central standard time. It is overdue that we get rid of the half hour anomaly that is branding us as a backwater and as out of step with civilisation. However, joining the Eastern States of New South Wales and Victoria, as proposed by the member for Mitchell, is not the answer. In my view, it would be more effective if they joined us by moving to true central standard time and that it be adopted Australia wide. Much to my surprise, the quickest and strongest support for South Australia to move to true central standard time came from the aeronautical and marine sectors. Alan Paterson said that, since he became pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force some years ago, he has been a supporter of South Australia moving to our correct Greenwich Mean Time of 135° longitude. Incidentally, this passes through Coffin Bay, slightly west of Port Lincoln. Michael Dinon of Louth Bay operated a volunteer coastguard radio for many years and was instrumental in preventing a number of seagoing disasters. In 1994 he wrote: The introduction of true central standard time is a great idea so I urge you to keep plugging away at the idea in parliament and maybe you will one day get someone to take notice. I am considering not going over to daylight saving time this year and instead staying on universal coordinated time for the purpose of communicating with the seagoing public. So stick to your guns over the issue. Andrew Maitland of Aldgate offered ample information on the need for South Australia to move to Greenwich Mean Time, which I have consistently referred to as true central standard time. He made the comment, `The aviation industry in particular will thank you if you can get it changed.' Terry Ireland of Stirling was one of a number of people who supported three separate all‑year‑round time zones for Australia, that is, western, central and eastern. He further commented that those who want to be on Sydney time can live there. Margaret Blumson of Ceduna stated that she and her son have researched the issue and support a move to true central standard time. Her daughter lives in Canada, and the half hour time difference makes it so much more difficult to work out time differences. Looking at Australia as a whole, it makes sense to have three time zones differing by one hour—that is, Eastern States one hour ahead of South Australia and South Australia on true central standard time one hour ahead of Western Australia. It is also easier for travellers to understand. As has already been alluded to, it is safer for the aeronautical and marine sectors. In a discussion on time in South Australia in 1994, I.J. Duncan of West Lakes wrote the following: The time in South Australia is odd; odd for two reasons. Firstly, it shares the oddity of being 30 minutes different to its neighbouring time zone, a peculiarity it shares with just a handful of countries, viz. India, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar (previously Burma). Let us refer to these as `half hour countries'. Predominantly, all other countries (some 200) are on a one hour time difference, not half hour. Secondly, South Australia (and the Northern Territory) takes its time from a meridian that does not pass through its own territory. The meridian used (142.5 degrees east) passes through Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland—roughly from Warrnambool in the south, east of Mildura, east of Broken Hill, Winton in Queensland and Cape York in the north. In each of the `half hour countries' mentioned above, the half hour meridian chosen does at least pass through their own territories. On this basis alone, South Australia takes its time from a foreign meridian and, in my view, the wrong meridian. Local time worldwide is taken from when the sun passes over the celestial meridian, the line of longitude that runs north and south through a place. The 00° longitude which runs through Greenwich is, of course, the best known of these and has become the datum for UK time and all international time—Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). As it would be impractical to have a different time zone for each town in the world, time zones were established. The World Book Encyclopedia states: The local time at the meridian, the line of longitude, which runs through the centre of the zone, is used by all places within the zone. This time throughout the zone is the same. This statement from the World Book confirms the oddity of South Australia's time, for here we currently take our time from a meridian that does not pass through the zone. The normal world practice leads us to the conclusion that South Australia should change its time to be consistent with a meridian that runs through its own territory zone. This would put South Australia on the international standard of being a one hour, not a half hour zone, and put us one hour different from the Eastern States; in fact, exactly what this bill is proposing. Further benefits identified by Mr Stan Webster of Henley Beach are that a move to true central standard time would establish a time zone relationship through to our current and future Asian trading partners. Our time would be the same zone as Tokyo and one hour ahead of Hong Kong, a sentiment, Mr Speaker, that I know you agree with. Mr Webster has been advocating that South Australia adopt true central standard time since he moved to this state from Victoria some 37 years ago. In a letter to me he concluded: `Good wishes in your efforts to adopt true central standard time, and even nine hours ahead of GMT as I think it would be a benefit to South Australia.' The national and international travel industries would be able to work to international standards of one hour differences. Mr Duncan suggested that South Australia on true central standard time, which would be the same as Japan, could use the slogan, `To avoid jet lag, start your holiday in Adelaide.' He suggested that Victoria and New South Wales tourist industries could use the slogan, `Add an hour to your holidays; vacation in South Australia.' Adopting true central standard time gives this state a tourism and trading advantage, especially in the lucrative export markets. This is an area that we on Eyre Peninsula, particularly Port Lincoln, understand very well. One of the comments by H. Billinghurst of Kingston Park, in a letter to The Advertiser on 29 October 2003 stated: Now would be an appropriate time for our Premier to declare that our time zone be nine hours ahead of GMT. Nine hours would split South Australia right down the middle which should leave no room for argument and should please everybody. A spin off from this is that it would remove that anomaly of the rest of the world wondering what this half hour is all about in that back water down under. These are representative of people who have a national and, indeed, a world view. Trading links will become increasingly important and advantageous now that the Darwin rail link is complete. As Philip Hadley of Fullarton commented in 1999: `Western Australia already enjoys the advantage of being on the same time zone as Hong Kong and Singapore.' South Korea is a major trading partner with this state. Mr Hadley pointed out that Seoul operates on nine hours from GMT, the same as our proposed true central standard time. Incidentally, it is worth noting that Australian aid sent by sea for tsunami victims left from Darwin. Australia's entry to the populous and lucrative Asian nations is through Darwin which, it is again worth emphasising, is linked by rail, road and air to South Australia. Victoria and New South Wales were disinterested in this rail link until it looked like becoming a reality. Business people in those states recognise the value of that link and tried to get it for themselves. It would make sense for the Northern Territory to also move to true central standard time. The Northern Territory, at the time of Federation, was included in the state of South Australia. Indeed, as the Speaker advised me, it was once part of my electorate of Flinders. It only became the Northern Territory when it was ceded to the commonwealth in 1911. One of conditions of the transfer was that the laws of South Australia applicable to the territory at the time were to continue; hence the Northern Territory has the same time zone as us. A past member for Mitchell, Mr Colin Caudell, proposed in 1994 that a joint South Australian‑Northern Territory team be established to coordinate the strategy for advancement of the Adelaide to Darwin rail link project, and to investigate the implementation of new central standard time for South Australia and the Northern Territory, based on the 135° eastern meridian, being Greenwich Mean Time plus nine hours. He recognised that true central standard time offers South Australia opportunities for trade with Hong Kong by making our time only one hour different. He also mentioned that tourism would be advantaged and marketing opportunities would be opened up. Those same arguments apply even more strongly now as China has taken over the former British colony of Hong Kong, and is becoming the world's largest trading country. The worth and importance of promoting this state as an entity in its own right is a consistent thread through all the comments supporting South Australia to move to true central standard time. Professor Peter Schwertfeger of Crafers was professor of meteorology at the School of Earth Sciences at Flinders University, and he can now be contacted at Airborne Research Australia at Parafield Airport. Professor Schwertfeger said: It is so idiotic to have the half hour time difference. It was particularly annoying from the standpoint of being a pilot when reports have to be made to the minute. In practice it means that pilots needs two watches to avoid errors. He also strongly supports Australia working as one nation. He says that, if South Australia moved to EST, the gap between Western Australia and the rest of Australia would effectively excise Western Australia. He said it was already sufficiently confusing when people crossed the WA‑SA border. In a letter to The Advertiser on 19 August 2000, he said: South Australia's absurd desire to be half an hour out of step with civilisation guarantees an incredulous laugh from most travellers as they struggle to set the minute hands or, worse still, 30 digital increments on their watches. Others with programmable international time pieces learn with dismay that no allowance is made for Adelaide's indecisive time zone. Pilots who need to keep track of minutes on an internationally compatible time scale find that South Australia's choice of time nothing but frustrating. The important issue is whether Adelaide keeps Sydney time or its own geographical time, which to the nearest hour is one hour behind that of its powerful neighbour. Business contacts between South Australia and the Eastern States can easily accommodate the arithmetic of adding or subtracting `one' but grappling with 30 is much more difficult. Let us resolve to do Australia a service and do our part to symbolise unity in this country by having three regions linked by one hour time increments. If Canada (with the exception of Newfoundland), Russia and the United States can live with multiple one hour stepped zones, surely we can too. One of the strong selling points of our state is its lifestyle. This is one of the intangibles when discussing time. Putting our clock time too much out of kilter with the actual time reduces our quality of life and detracts from the attractiveness of living in South Australia. It is appropriate here to mention the unofficial `border time' used along the Eyre Highway from Border Village to Caiguna. The 90‑minute time difference between South Australia and Western Australia is broken into two 45 minute increments for the benefit of those who travel along this route. During daylight saving, the two increments would be 75 minutes each. This small practical application of time management again points to the need for South Australia to be on true central standard time. Another of the intangibles is the power supply. South Australia purchases power from the Eastern States. Adopting true central standard time could offset the periods of peak use by separating peak periods of use by one hour instead of 30 minutes between us and Melbourne and Sydney, thereby easing pressure on shared electricity supplies. This could be of considerable benefit when the spot market price for electricity can vary from a low of $25 per kilowatt hour to a high of $10 000 per kilowatt hour for peak periods. I am surprised that the honourable Premier has not recognised this point. One of his consistent comments during the last election campaign was that he would deliver cheaper power to South Australians. Well, he can now by supporting true central time. Will the Hon. Mike Rann and his ministers only look at South Australia as an appendage to the more populous and, therefore, politically more powerful Victoria and New South Wales, or will he support our state and our state pride and vote for a one hour time differential? I hope that government members will support South Australia moving to true central standard time simply because it identifies and confirms this state's individuality and worth. As this is a private member's bill and, therefore, presumably, a conscience vote, I encourage them to vote for our state and true central standard time. In 1994, on the question of aligning South Australian time with some other states, Mr J. Pedler of Norton Summit wrote: We might as well switch our clocks so that business here would coincide with Wall Street USA. South Australia could be the first! After all, all those office blocks in Adelaide have their lights on all night (for security reasons). They could be turned off during the daytime then—save power. And think how much more daylight we would have to play around in! Ridiculous! Mr Pedler accurately touched on the nonsense of the arguments of some of those who oppose South Australia's adopting true central standard time. Vote for commonsense. Vote for state pride. Vote for true central standard time and sleep in an extra hour and a half on Sunday 27 March this year. Mrs GERAGHTY secured the adjournment of the debate.
Daylight
Saving
Time is calculated from Greenwich in England; each 15 degrees of longitude east of Greenwich amounts to one hour of time. Thus, it takes 24 hours or one day to circumnavigate the 360 degrees of the earth. Clock time on a longitude is the same on both sides of the equator from north to south. Looking at Australia as a whole, it makes sense to have three time zones differing by one hour, that is, eastern states one hour ahead of South Australia and South Australia on true central standard time, one hour ahead of Western Australia. It is also easier for travellers to understand and fairer to all South Australians, especially those who live in my electorate of Flinders on Eyre Peninsula, and better for trade. South Australia is on the same longitude as our principal Asian trading partners, including the biggest one, Japan. Adopting true central standard time gives this state a trading advantage, especially in the lucrative export markets. This fact will become increasingly important and advantageous with the completion of the Darwin rail link. Australia is ahead of these nations in the implementation of information technology. Thus, being on the same time line is an advantage for them doing business with us, as phone and fax are still major means of communication. Information technology and ecommerce also make the physical position of a business of less account. The argument that it is necessary for business to be on the same clock time as the eastern states is demolished also by the existence of Broken Hill in New South Wales. When mining at Broken Hill was started the company wanted the New South Wales government to build a rail line for transport of ore. However, the government refused. The South Australian government built a line from Broken Hill to Port Pirie; hence, the whole of Broken Hill operates as an adjunct to South Australia, including being on the same clock time as South Australia. The success of the Big Australian is due more to South Australia than to New South Wales, and it has managed very well on our time. In addition, to me and many others it is a matter of state pride to be independent from the eastern states. South Australia is an entity. Our state is derided and ignored by the eastern states. We do not have to support the eastern states in their annihilation of our state. An example of this desire to detract from South Australia and to take away everything that might make South Australia more of a force in the Commonwealth of Australia is the Adelaide-Darwin rail link. The eastern states have not been concerned about this link for the past 100 years. However, as soon as South Australia put in place concrete steps to make this railway a reality, the eastern states proposed a railway from Melbourne through New South Wales and Queensland to Darwin to squeeze South Australia out of the action—obtaining, of course, the economic, social and population benefits that will flow from that action. South Australia offers the best quality of life available. We need to acknowledge our advantages with pride and build on them, not throw them away in a cringing crawl to the eastern states power brokers. South Australia's future does not lie as a no-account, forgotten appendage to the eastern states. Let us grasp the advantages that change (including information technology) has brought and continues to bring, to make South Australia with its wonderful environment and standard of living an entity to be reckoned with. Currently South Australia's time zone runs approximately through Warrnambool in Victoria. Adding daylight saving puts South Australia's time zone into the sea off Australia's east coast. South Australians are thus permanently on daylight saving under the present conditions. Adopting true central standard time would benefit all South Australians. Daylight saving means that children in the west of the state get up in the dark and catch school buses in the dark. This is dangerous on unlit country roads and especially dangerous on highways such as the Eyre Highway, the main east-west highway across Australia. Daylight saving has an adverse incremental effect on health. By the end of daylight saving each year, children are sickly, inattentive at school, tired and lacking initiative. Time expired. |
E-mail address: flinders.portlincoln@parliament.sa.gov.au
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