Dear Mrs Irwin

Thank you for your letter of 19 August 2009 to the Prime Minister with regard to a petition concerning a national, uniform approach to daylight saving. The Prime Minister has asked me to reply on his behalf.

Successive national governments have taken the approach that it is a matter for state and territory governments to determine, in the light of the preferences of their citizens, whether daylight saving should apply in their jurisdiction. In this regard it is instructive to note that in June 2007 the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory reached agreement on a standard period of daylight saving. On the other hand, in May 2009, the Western Australian Government held a referendum on continuing daylight saving in its state that was not supported by a majority of its citizens, while Queensland and the Northern Territory do not currently observe daylight saving.

Given the current disposition of the states and territories towards daylight saving, as evinced in the actions of their governments, there would not appear to be sufficient support to warrant incurring the costs involved in conducting a referendum on daylight saving. This particularly applies in the current environment of fiscal constraint where limited budgetary resources are required for higher priority initiatives.

from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Byrne