The Premier has given his strongest indication yet that South Australia is destined for a shift to Eastern Standard Time.
Speaking at a business lunch yesterday, Jay Weatherill asserted that “on the face of it, it seems there are pretty powerful arguments for moving to AEST”.
The Government announced in February that it was reviewing SA’s adherence to Central Standard Time, with former Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith to lead the consultation.
Weatherill flagged that there would be a change of some sort, noting that SA was one of only seven jurisdictions with a half-hour reference point against the world’s most commonly-used time standard, Co-ordinated Universal Time.
“The half an hour thing is a bit of a problem and creates a lot of confusion,” said Weatherill.
“But we’re out there talking to people about this … Obviously the people of the west coast have real concerns.”
However, he hinted that those concerns could be “grappled with in other ways” than shifting our clocks closer to West Australian time.
“We’re thinking through all that at the moment,” he said.
Public consultation on the proposals ends today, with the Opposition calling for specific economic modelling for any planned change, rather than merely submissions from “vocal members of the public”.
Stay informed, daily
“What is missing…is evidence that demonstrates changing SA’s time zone will have economic benefits to the state,” said Liberal spokesman Tim Whetstone.
Weatherill also reiterated his broad policy agenda yesterday, noting: “We’re a fourth term Government asking for a fifth term.”
“We know we’re going to have to do something pretty impressive if we’re going to earn the right to govern again,” he said, adding it must be “no less than a transformation of the SA economy”.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
