The debate for daylight saving continues

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The debate for daylight saving continues

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With much discussion over the introduction of daylight saving in Western Australia, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia has again entered the debate, claiming that loss of business opportunities, communication difficulties and other negative impacts are reason enough for the Carpenter Government to remove the three hour time difference between WA and the east coast over Summer.

The impacts were raised in two surveys conducted with 650 of the state’s leading business professionals and more than 400 people in the general community with released by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Western Australian Branch earlier this year.

The business community survey revealed:

86% of those surveyed were in favour of the State adopting daylight saving to prevent a three-hour time difference with the eastern states

85% of respondents believed that the three-hour time difference negatively impacted on business activities, citing that communication difficulties was viewed as the most pressing reason to make the switch for business and

A further 50% of respondents believed that the extent of the impact was ‘moderate to adverse in nature’ with areas of impact including lost business opportunities, the cost and time of travel, lost productivity and increased banking difficulties.

“The economic good of the State along with improving business efficiency need to be the State Government’s priority when considering the issue of daylight saving,” Mr Abbott said.

“Anything that makes doing business harder in Western Australia needs to be examined.

“The overwhelming response to the survey, by business professionals, is that daylight savings is impacting on their, clients and employer’s organisations in a negative way,” he said.

The Institute also conducted a survey of Western Australians and found that the general community would also welcome the move. More than 400 people were asked if they were in favour or against introducing daylight saving during summer in WA.

The survey found that 66% of people were in favour of the change with the majority of those surveyed (52%) strongly supporting the move. This compared to just 27% who were opposed.

Mr Abbott said with both the business and general community supportive of the move it is hard to understand any resistance to the idea. WA and Queensland are the only states not to adopt daylight saving and the local impact was particularly frustrating to business with most large corporate and Commonwealth Government head offices orientated to the east coast time zone.

“This is a win - win situation for the business community, general public and government bodies,” he said.