By Melissa Blewitt

Lachlan Shire Council Mayor John Medcalf OAM wants to shorten Daylight Saving Time (DST).

He thinks “enough is enough” and wants DST to be shortened to no more than four months of the year.

Mr Medcalf wants DST to begin on the first weekend in November and end it on the last weekend in February. This is compared to the current system which starts on the first weekend in October and ends on the first weekend in April.

“When you get into the end of March-April, it’s pretty dark in the morning,” he explained.

“I just get the feeling there is an appetite that people would like to see it back to four months.”

“I would like to move that we make a recommendation to the next Country Mayors conference on 28th May 2021 that Day Light Saving be reduced to four months of the year,” he wrote in a mayoral Minute, that was presented to Lachlan Shire Council at its monthly meeting held in Lake Cargelligo on 28 April.

“Starting on the first weekend in November and finishing the last weekend in February each year.

“To be implemented no later than November 2021. This was the original intent of Day Light Saving, being four months and only changed for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and never changed back.

“We feel enough is enough!!!”

Mr Medcalf said that there has been a huge level of support expressed for this proposal, since it was announced last week, not only from the local area but from right across the state.

Mr Medcalf’s Mayoral Minute to lobby for the shortened time period passed and he will now take the matter to the next Country Mayors Association meeting in May.