The Daylight Savings for South East Queensland party is starting to make waves in the 2009 Election. Their campaign launch was yesterday, and a pretty good one at that (report from GoldCoast.com.au here). The only problem I see – once you got over the gag, that’s all there is.
The DS4SEQ’s whole platform is to bring daylight savings to the southern-eastern region of Queensland (their solution and proposed “time boundary” here). That’s it. No electoral reform. No policy regarding infrastructure spending for Queensland as a whole. No fiscal policy. No mention of how they’ll solve the health debacle. If fact, if my maths are right (and they probably aren’t), even if all 32 DS4SEQ candidates get in – and there’s little chance of that happening – then they won’t even have the numbers to get their proposed plan passed into law.
Critics say that the party is simply moving the current problem faced by Coolangatta/Tweed Heads residents north for Burrum Heads and 1770 residents to deal with. They say a party with only one policy has as much place in this election as Warwick Capper. “They” may be right, but that’s not stopping DS4SEQ.
I’ll offer I’m a massive fan of daylight savings, having lived in New South Wales a bit in the last 20 years, and I enjoyed it immensely. I’ve been a massive supporter and spruiker of the concept with anyone who’ll stand still long enough to listen. I do, however, appreciate the divisiveness of splitting the state in implementing daylight savings, and I also get the difficulty it would be for people towards Cairns if daylight savings were thrust upon them. Western Australia have been trialling daylight savings for the whole state for the last 3 years, and while I’m sure it’s not great for people in Derby and Kununurra, the people in WA will have their say soon enough after having lived “the benefits” in preparation for a state wide referendum. In Queensland… I think as much fun as the DS4SEQ party is, I do not think they’re gonna have much luck this time around.
Technologically, the DS4SEQ party are keeping it all together. Their website is good, their Twitter account is fairly active and is used to highlight stuff the party is doing (like their launch). Their party leader, Jason Furze, semi-regularly blogs for the party faithful (that’s not a criticism – I’m sure it’s because he’s really busy). They could be getting video footage on to their website a little quicker – where is that launch footage? – and they should have claimed their own YouTube site by now (and if they have, I can’t find it and not for lack of trying).
Will the DS4SEQ party make a dint in this election campaign? I think they are getting their voice heard. I think they are managing to keep daylight savings an issue on the Queensland political agenda. I think they are hopeful that one or two candidates *might* be elected this time around. I hope they stick around… and I hope they offer some other well thought out and productive policies soon, or for their next tilt at an election.
The DS4SEQ party are quick to remind us “It’s about time”… I would offer, however catchy their campaign platform/slogan might be, that it’s a relatively short-sighted view on Queensland politics.
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