Coming from The Netherlands (Amsterdam is 52 degrees North) which has had daylight savings since 1940s, I didn’t consider it a fuss also having having it here.

The problem in South-East Queensland where I live is interacting with the Southern states in summer, both in person (cross-border trade like produce that needs to get to a market) as well as over phone. Essentially the SE-QLD people have to work for an extra hour in summer to accommodate.

The video below makes very good points though, even if some examples are US-centric. It covers a lot of ground and the analysis of the original reason (more daylight to reduce energy use from artificial light) is interesting: it makes sense if you spend most of your day outside. However, most of us don’t do that these days (sadly, but fact) so considering the common use of air-conditioning in our parts which actually increases our energy consumption, and the relative efficiency of modern lighting compared to the heaps of other energy-guzzling stuff… does it really make sense to have Daylight Savings?

I’m not so convinced now. To fix the practical problem, QLD might need to convince the other states to ditch DST… reduced energy consumption might be an interesting argument for NSW and perhaps SA, less so in VIC/ACT. Anyway it’s a completely different perspective, and I reckon it deserves some consideration.