Fed: Regional Australia should accept time change

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2000
Fed: Regional Australia should accept time change

CANBERRA, Aug 27 AAP - Regional Australia should accept today's early start of daylight
saving because it was for a special event, Opposition transport and regional development
spokesman Martin Ferguson said today.

Mr Ferguson said while he accepted the arguments of people in regional Australia against
daylight saving, this year's early start was a special circumstance.

"I accept the arguments of people in regional Australia, especially as we bought forward
the change date over this year," he told Channel Ten.

"But it is obviously related to special circumstances, the Olympics."

Last week the New South Wales National Party said the time change was an impost to
country people and posed a safety issue to school children.

Children in remote country towns will be forced to begin their journeys to school in
darkness with the fast-tracking of daylight saving, National Party leader George Souris
said.

Clocks were put forward one hour at 2am today in the south eastern corner of Australia
- two months earlier than in previous years.

The state government introduced special legislation to allow the one-off change for
the Sydney Olympics.

But not all of NSW fell into line with the new time.

The Twin Towns Services Club in northern New South Wales will not engage in daylight
saving, keeping clocks ticking to Queensland time and many homes and businesses in Broken
Hill, in far western NSW, also chose not to put forward their clocks, keeping in line
with South Australian time.

Mr Ferguson said daylight saving was one of the many issues the commonwealth needed
to discuss with the states.

"It comes back to what Kim Beazley has said, we ought to be having regular meetings
with the states and trying to work out how we get some uniformity," he said.

AAP eg/cd

KEYWORD: DAYLIGHT LABOR

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