Country Mayors Association wants NSW daylight savings period reduced

It's a situation many face and it's one of the reasons the Country Mayors Association of NSW is calling for the state government to reduce the daylight saving period by two months.

The motion was put to a vote at the Country Mayors' Association meeting in Sydney on May 26, with a majority of those in attendance wanting the reduction introduced as soon as November this year.

Narromine mayor Craig Davies was among those in favour of the motion.

"I think most people out this way would agree, certainly, the end and that last month is pretty trying," Cr Davies said.

"Most of us have had well and truly enough at that stage ... but, as we know, all these things are pretty much designed for the city and I can't imagine legislation will ever change, but you can only try."

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The association wants Daylight Saving Time (DST) to begin in the first week of November and to end during the last weekend of February, cutting the length down from six to four months.

Currently, DST starts in the first week of October and ends in the first week of April. It is not observed in Queensland, Western Australia nor the Northern Territory.

"It's just getting to a point where we're over it," Cr Davies said.

"I've got grand kids who live in western Victoria and it's still light there at 9.20pm and that's worse than it is here, but it's unnecessary.

"We appreciate it in that middle part, but that last month I think we're all ready for it to end and we can all get back to a normal timetable."

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb was another in favour of the change.

"We'll never get rid of daylight saving and I think most people are accepting of that," he said.

"But for those in rural areas, and especially those who live on farms, it means the kids are getting up in the dark to go to school."

That was something Cr Davies is also aware of in his region.

"Absolutely. The bus leaves Trangie, for example, at seven in the morning to go to Dubbo. That makes it a heck of a long day for these little kids," he said.

Other mayors pointed to the fact most farmers get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun so there is no real need for daylight saving in rural areas.

Liverpool Plains Shire Council mayor Doug Hawkins OAM described DST as "a waste of time".

"I don't see the benefit in a rural community having daylight saving, it is just a waste of time," Cr Hawkins said.

"The people who do a 10-hour day and knock-off at five o'clock, they don't want to stay up until eleven o'clock when the sun goes down."

As passionate as some of the mayors are, Cr Davies doesn't believe any change will be likely.

Frustration with decisions being made for what the mayors see as the betterment of those in metropolitan areas is a common feeling for the association, and the DST issue is just the latest example.

Daylight Saving was first introduced in NSW in 1971, with a majority of the public voting for it to become permanent in 1976.

It was then only four months, with clocks going forward from the last Sunday of October until the first Sunday in March.

In 2007, the state government passed a new law that added an extra month from the 2008 to 2009 season onwards.

Others have argued that an extra hour of sunlight in the evening allows more time for outdoor activities and saves on electricity costs.

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