Hello again to all our supporters.

The Parliamentary debate for Peter Wellington’s Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill has still not been confirmed, however the likely date is either 6 April or 11 May.  We will provide more details once the date is confirmed.

With the debate approaching, we would like to remind you to e-sign the current Parliamentary e-Petition, which calls on the Government to support Mr Wellington’s Bill and hold a trial and referendum on Daylight Saving in South East Queensland.  Only takes about one minute.

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/CurrentEPetition.aspx?PetNum=1543&lIndex=-1

The greater the support for the e-Petition, the greater the chance of success, so please help us increase the support by forwarding the link to your family, friends and colleagues.

DS4SEQ not only urge you to e-sign the formal parliamentary petition, but also encourage you to lobby your local state member, as well as the Premier and the Opposition Leader directly.

To obtain relevant contact details, a listing of all current state members can be found at the following link, and just click on the individual electorate:

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/legislativeAssembly/members_current.asp

I have also provided a suggested draft base letter/email to send, but feel free to make any changes of your own.  Please refer below.

Lobby for Daylight Saving in South East Queensland – ‘It’s About Time!’

Jason Furze

Party Leader

———

(insert your address)

(insert date) 2011

Dear (insert member’s name),

I urge you to reconsider your party’s and your own negative stance on dual time zones and daylight saving in south-east Queensland and hope you will vote in favour of Peter Wellington’s Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill 2010 when it is debated in Parliament later this year.  Further, I would encourage your party to genuinely explore dual time zone boundary options that could be viable and workable for Queensland.

It is very disappointing that elected members in the south-east, including yourself, are prepared to vote against their own constituents’ needs in favour of the wishes of some residents in regional Queensland, over 1,000 kilometres away.  If you were genuinely prepared to listen to the people of Queensland, then you would start by listening to your own constituents on daylight saving.

On the issue of daylight saving, it is very clear that Queenslanders are deeply divided.  Your party’s current anti-daylight saving stance simply widens this divide, as it is a policy aimed at only satisfying those residing in regional and rural Queensland, while the majority of residents in south-east Queensland are ignored and left frustrated by the current situation.  Continually leaving the issue of daylight saving in the ‘Too Hard Basket’ only adds to this frustration.

In contrast, introducing dual time zones maintains a respectful view towards regional and rural Queenslanders, whilst also giving fair consideration to the views of those residing in south-east Queensland – a compromise that aims to satisfy the majority of all Queenslanders.

I believe that dual time zones provide a workable solution, and holding a trial would confirm that.  A dual time zone for Queensland would reduce the number of people affected by a ‘time border’ and would allow the majority of constituents to align with their favoured time arrangement.  I would also like to highlight that dual time zones function successfully in other countries and without contention.  For example, 30% of the states in the USA have a workable dual time zone in operation, as do a number of provinces in Canada.  If you genuinely don’t believe that introducing dual time zones is the right solution for Queensland’s daylight saving conundrum, then I would be interested in hearing your party’s alternatives to address the problem.

Daylight saving in south-east Queensland would provide a welcome boost to the region’s ailing tourism industry.  With an estimated $10 billion net economic benefit to Queensland’s economy, daylight saving in south-east Queensland should be trialled.  Holding a referendum would enable the daylight saving issue to be resolved in a fair and democratic manner, and supersede the outdated result from two decades ago.  The cost of staging a referendum is minimal in comparison to the economic returns that would follow from having Daylight Saving in south-east Queensland.  In addition, the referendum cost could be significantly reduced if held in conjunction with a state election.

I urge you to vote in favour of Mr Wellington’s Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill 2010 to allow the people of Queensland to have their say on this contentious issue.  Going further and trialling daylight saving in south-east Queensland, before a referendum, would ensure that Queenslanders were better informed about dual time zones before voting.

Kind regards,

(insert your name)