Daylight saving is about to end – and businesses on NSW-Queensland border are celebrating

Toby Bamford operates his bakery in a different time zone to those less than 1km away. On Sunday he plans to celebrate joining his Queensland neighbours. For almost 20 million Australians, the end of daylight saving means an extra hour’s sleep. Daylight saving time ends on Sunday at 3am, when clocks move back one hour in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. For Bamford, it means clarity on opening hours and reservation times for customers between states. “It is really challenging at the moment,” he said. “Whilst NSW customers are up and about, the Queenslanders are just waking up.” Bamford owns Baked at Ancora in Tweed Heads, a cafe attached to a wedding venue located about 900 metres from the NSW border. Bakers who live in Queensland start work at 3.45am during summer, a result of the one-hour difference. Bamford said the disparity can also come in handy for staff running late. “You’re never quite sure whether or not they’re just using it as an excuse,” he said. Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Despite navigating its challenges, Bamford said he enjoyed the benefits of daylight saving during summer. “I look forward to daylight saving for the long days and the long evenings,” he said. “That’s a really exciting time.” Daylight saving has existed in Australia for more than 50 years. It is immensely popular – research published last year found eight in 10 support it, even in Queensland and Western Australia, where it doesn’t exist. A New Zealand entomologist called George Hudson is widely credited with coming up with the idea in 1895 – he wanted more time in the evenings to look for bugs. In Australia, it was adopted as a wartime measure to save fuel by reducing the need for artificial lighting. But it is not without its critics. Flo Bjelke-Petersen, the wife of former Queensland premier Joh, infamously worried that the curtains would fade and the cows would get confused. There are more legitimate concerns, though – parents worry about kids catching school buses in the dark, farmers may have to adjust their livestock schedules, and there can be some sleep disruption as circadian rhythms adjust, and those disruptions could lead to increased risk of stroke and heart attack, as well as mental health issues. Some NSW farmers have called for it to be shortened to four months, arguing that having the “whole family up in the dark” upset sleep patterns, and meant more dangerous driving because of fog and animals on the road. On the other hand, some argue it could reduce carbon emissions, and that the extended recreational time it allows has social and economic benefits. The US president, Donald Trump, wants to end the practice, declaring before his re-election that the Republican party would “use its best efforts to eliminate daylight saving time” because it’s “inconvenient”. However, to date he has been too distracted upending world trade and making devastating changes to foreign aid to worry about stopping the clocks changing. Queensland and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight savings. Nor does Western Australia, and its businesses dealing with eastern states say the extra hour is a tough adjustment. “It forces teams to adapt – starting earlier, shifting schedules and adjusting operations just to stay in sync,” the Fremantle chamber of commerce chief, Chrissie Maus, said. “In a globally connected economy, we need solutions that empower WA businesses, not hold them back.” The time difference has become second nature to Bamford but he would love for daylight savings to be applied to the communities who live close to the border in Queensland. “Just where all the people live and the cows aren’t affected,” he said. “It would make our lives a lot easier.”