Day Lights Savings Time Down Under

Make sure you set your clocks forward today unless you are in one of those "stubbornly opposed" states:

DAYLIGHT saving began this morning in New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, South Australia and Western Australia, with clocks going forward one hour.

Tasmanians stole a march on the rest of the country when they put their clocks forward on October 7, while Queensland and the Northern Territory remain stubbornly opposed to daylight saving at any time.

The issue of the extra hour of summer daylight has long polarised Australians.

While the NSW government has just passed legislation to extend daylight saving by four weeks, Western Australians have rejected daylight saving in three referendums over 31 years.

WA begins the second year of a three-year trial of daylight saving today, with another referendum to be held at the end of the trial.

NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania are now:

– two hours behind New Zealand;

– half an hour ahead of Adelaide;

– one hour ahead of Brisbane;

– one and a half hours ahead of Darwin;

– two hours ahead of Perth.

Daylight saving will end in NSW, South Australia, Victoria and the ACT on April 6 next year.

In Tasmania and Western Australia, daylight saving will end on March 30.  [AAP]