WA Daylight Saving Referendum, 16 May 2009

Western Australian today held its fourth daylight saving referendum. On this occasion, like the previous three referendums, the NO vote won and Western Australia's three year experiment with summer daylight saving has ended.

I voted as a Western Australian resident for the first time in the state electorate of Churchlands.

Australian citizen residents of Western Australia were asked to write down either a YES or NO in response to the following question:

Are you in favour of daylight saving being introduced in Western Australia by standard time in the State being advanced one hour from the last Sunday in October 2009 until the last Sunday in March 2010 and in similar fashion for each following year?

I voted YES because I enjoy the extra hour of light in summer evenings and the larger difference in times makes business more difficult to conduct with the rest of Australia. A majority of Churchlands voters agreed with me although we were outvoted by the remainder of the voting public.

In the great scheme of things, daylight saving is not a big deal, although the campaigning from both sides of the debate wanted you to think otherwise. Outside the polling booth were flyers promoting the YES vote. Is "What legacy do you want to leave to your kids?" a dramatic enough title?