{"id":"daylight-saving-act-2006","name":"Daylight Saving Act 2006","slug":"daylight-saving-act-2006","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30394,"registerId":"wa-daylight-saving-act-2006-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Daylight Saving Act 2006","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nDaylight Saving Act 2006\n\nWestern Australia\n\nDaylight Saving Act 2006\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Commencement 1\n\n3. Terms used in this Act 2\n\n4. Trial period of daylight saving 2\n\n5. Referendum on daylight saving 2\n\n7. Construction of expression of time in enactments, etc. 3\n\n8. Act not to affect use of standard time for certain purposes 4\n\n9. Regulations as to trading hours, etc. 4\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 6\n\nUncommenced provisions table 6\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nDaylight Saving Act 2006\n\nAn Act to provide for a trial period of daylight saving throughout the State and a referendum thereafter on the question of daylight saving on a permanent basis, to alter standard time accordingly if the majority of electors indicates approval of daylight saving in the referendum.\n\nThe Parliament of Western Australia enacts as follows:\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis is the *Daylight Saving Act 2006*.\n\n##### 2. Commencement\n\n(1) This Act other than section 6 comes into operation on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.\n\n(2) Subject to subsection (3), section 6 comes into operation on the day after the day on which the statement referred to in the *Referendums Act 1983* section 30(3) is published in the *Gazette* in relation to the referendum if that statement evidences that, as regards the whole of the State, the number of votes marked “yes” exceeds the number of votes marked “no”.\n\n(3) If any question respecting the validity of the referendum or of any return or statement showing the voting on the referendum is referred to the Supreme Court by resolution of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative Assembly under the *Referendums Act 1983* Part VI and, under that Part, the Supreme Court subsequently avoids the referendum or such a return or statement, the Governor may by proclamation provide that section 6 ceases to be in operation on the day specified in the proclamation.\n\n##### 3. Terms used in this Act\n\nIn this Act unless the contrary intention appears —\n\n  electors has the meaning given to that term in the *Referendums Act 1983* section 2(1);\n\nprescribed question means the question set out in section 5(2);\n\nreferendum means the referendum required by section 5(1);\n\nstandard time means the time declared by the *Standard Time Act 2005* to be standard time throughout the State;\n\nsummer time means the time to be observed throughout the State as provided by sections 4 and 6;\n\nthe hour of 2 a.m. means that hour as determined by standard time.\n\n##### 4. Trial period of daylight saving\n\nDespite the *Standard Time Act 2005*, from —\n\n(a) the hour of 2 a.m. on 3 December 2006 until the hour of 2 a.m. on 25 March 2007; and\n\n(b) the hour of 2 a.m. on 28 October 2007 until the hour of 2 a.m. on 30 March 2008; and\n\n(c) the hour of 2 a.m. on 26 October 2008 until the hour of 2 a.m. on 29 March 2009,\n\nsummer time shall, throughout the State, be one hour in advance of standard time and shall be observed accordingly.\n\n##### 5. Referendum on daylight saving\n\n(1) The prescribed question is to be submitted to the electors under and in accordance with the *Referendums Act 1983* on a day not earlier than 10 May 2009 or later than 13 September 2009.\n\n(2) The prescribed question is —\n\n“Are you in favour of daylight saving being introduced in Western Australia by standard time in the State being advanced one hour from the last Sunday in October 2009 until the last Sunday in March 2010 and in similar fashion for each following year?”.\n\n(3) When an elector is voting at the referendum —\n\n(a) if the elector is in favour of standard time in the State being advanced one hour from the last Sunday in October in each year until the last Sunday in the following March, the elector is to place the word “yes” in the space provided on the ballot paper; or\n\n(b) if the elector is not in favour of standard time in the State being advanced one hour from the last Sunday in October in each year until the last Sunday in the following March, the elector is to place the word “no” in the space provided on the ballot paper.\n\n[**6.** Has not come into operation.]\n\n##### 7. Construction of expression of time in enactments, etc.\n\nDespite anything contained in —\n\n(a) any enactment; or\n\n(b) any contract or agreement, whether made orally or in writing; or\n\n(c) any deed or other instrument of any kind,\n\nin which any time or period of time is prescribed, specified, or stipulated as the time at which, or the period of time for which or during which, or any part of which the doing of any act, matter, or thing is required, permitted or forbidden, that time, period of time, or part of a period of time, as the case may be, shall, with respect to any period during which summer time is declared by this Act to be in advance of standard time, be held to be, and shall be determined by reference to, summer time unless the contrary is expressed, provided, or stipulated in that enactment, contract, agreement, deed or instrument.\n\n##### 8. Act not to affect use of standard time for certain purposes\n\n(1) Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the *Standard Time Act 2005* is not affected by this Act.\n\n(2) Nothing in this Act affects the use of standard time for the purposes of astronomy, meteorology, or navigation, or the construction of any document mentioning or referring to a point of time in connection with any of those purposes.\n\n##### 9. Regulations as to trading hours, etc.\n\n(1) The Governor, on the recommendation of the Minister, may make regulations declaring —\n\n(a) the trading hours of any organization (however described) whose hours of trade are regulated under the *Retail Trading Hours Act 1987*; or\n\n(b) the hours of work of any employee (however described) whose hours of work are regulated under the *Industrial Relations Act 1979*; or\n\n(c) the trading hours of any person licensed under the *Liquor Licensing Act 1988*; or\n\n(d) the hours of operation of any school regulated under the *School Education Act 1999*; or\n\n(e) such other matters as are, in the opinion of the Governor, necessary to be declared to moderate the effect of summer time.\n\n(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) in relation to trading hours, hours of work or hours of operation must not —\n\n(a) increase or decrease those hours; or\n\n(b) declare those hours to commence or terminate more than one hour after the time of commencement or termination prescribed under the relevant written law.\n\n(3) Regulations made under subsection (1) have effect —\n\n(a) in such region or area; and\n\n(b) during such period,\n\nas is specified in the regulations, but have no effect outside the period from the hour of 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October in a year to the hour of 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in March of the following year.\n\n(4) Regulations made under subsection (1) have effect according to their tenor despite any written law or other law, or any award or agreement, or any order or ruling of any court, tribunal, commission or body.\n\nNotes\n\nThis is a compilation of the *Daylight Saving Act 2006*. For provisions that have come into operation see the compilation table. For provisions that have not yet come into operation see the uncommenced provisions table.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Daylight Saving Act 2006* | 61 of 2006 | 24 Nov 2006 | Act other than s. 6: 24 Nov 2006 (see s. 2(1)) |\n\n\nUncommenced provisions table\n\nTo view the text of the uncommenced provisions see *Acts as passed* on the WA Legislation website.\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Daylight Saving Act 2006*    s. 6 | 61 of 2006 | 24 Nov 2006 | s. 6 operative on the day after publication of a statement in the Gazette (see s. 2(2)) |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nelectors 3\n\nprescribed question 3\n\nreferendum 3\n\nstandard time 3\n\nsummer time 3\n\nthe hour of 2 a.m. 3\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act’s scope aligns with its original mechanism: establish trial summer time periods (s 4), hold a referendum on permanent daylight saving (s 5), and conditionally alter standard time on a positive result and Gazette publication (s 2(2)). Section 6 remains uncommenced pending that statement and possible court referral (s 2(3)), but no textual change to the Act’s substantive scope is evident from the enacted provisions (see ss 4–9)."},"complexity_factors":["Conditional, staged commencement tied to referendum outcome and Gazette publication (s 2(2)–(3))","Specified trial periods with precise clock-change times that interact with existing Standard Time (s 4; defined term 'the hour of 2 a.m.' in s 3)","Cross‑legislative interactions with the Standard Time Act 2005 and Referendums Act 1983 requiring coordinated implementation","Broad regulation‑making power to adjust trading/work hours that can operate despite awards, agreements or other laws (s 9(1), (4))","Contractual and statutory time expressions are reinterpreted during summer time unless contrary intention is expressed (s 7)","An uncommenced operative provision (s 6) and potential for judicial challenge under the Referendums Act introduce implementation uncertainty"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act imposes a statewide trial of daylight saving for specified summer periods and requires a referendum in 2009 to decide whether to make daylight saving permanent; if a majority votes “yes” and the official Gazette statement is published, the law then alters standard time (see ss 4, 5, 2(2)). It affects every resident, businesses, employees and schools by shifting clocks and permits the Governor to make regulations adjusting trading and work hours to “moderate the effect” (see ss 9, 7)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as the legislative text was not available for analysis. The page returned an error indicating the URL is no longer active on the WA legislation website."},"complexity_factors":["No actual legislative text was retrievable — the source page returned a 404-style error","Daylight saving legislation is generally straightforward in structure — typically short Acts adjusting time zone settings","Complexity cannot be properly assessed without the text"],"plain_english_summary":"## ⚠️ Content Unavailable\n\nThe actual text of the **Daylight Saving Act 2006 (WA)** could not be retrieved — the source page is no longer available on the Western Australian legislation website.\n\n**What we do know from context:**\n- This is a **Western Australian** Act from **2006**\n- It almost certainly relates to **daylight saving time** — the practice of moving clocks forward in summer to extend evening daylight\n- Western Australia has historically been resistant to daylight saving, holding multiple referendums on the issue\n- A 2006 Act may relate to a **trial period** of daylight saving that WA conducted (a three-year trial ran from 2006–2009, after which voters rejected it in a 2009 referendum)\n\n**If this affects you:** If you need the actual legal text, visit the [Parliamentary Counsel's Office website](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au) directly and search for the Act by name."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains focused on its original purpose: establishing a trial period of daylight saving followed by a referendum. The scope has not expanded beyond this core function. The regulation-making power in section 9 is ancillary to the main purpose (moderating effects of the time change) rather than a significant expansion of scope."},"complexity_factors":["Only 6 defined terms in the interpretation section (section 3)","Straightforward conditional commencement for section 6 (referendum result dependent)","Simple temporal provisions with specific dates in section 4","Limited cross-referencing (primarily to Referendums Act 1983 and Standard Time Act 2005)","Single nested condition in section 2(3) regarding Supreme Court challenges to referendum validity","Regulation-making power in section 9 contains specific limitations (subsection 2) but these are clearly expressed","No exceptions to exceptions; minimal conditional logic"],"plain_english_summary":"This Western Australian law sets up a **three-year trial of daylight saving time** followed by a **public referendum** to decide whether to make it permanent.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Trial period**: For three summers (December 2006 to March 2007, October 2007 to March 2008, and October 2008 to March 2009), clocks move forward one hour during the warmer months. This means sunset happens later in the evening.\n- **Referendum**: Between May and September 2009, voters answer \"yes\" or \"no\" to whether daylight saving should continue every year from October to March.\n- **Automatic trigger**: If the majority votes \"yes\", section 6 (which would make daylight saving permanent) automatically comes into force the day after the results are published.\n- **Legal time**: During the trial, all laws, contracts, and documents use the advanced time (\"summer time\") unless they specifically say otherwise. However, astronomy, weather forecasting, and navigation still use standard time.\n- **Regulations**: The government can make rules adjusting shop opening hours, work hours, liquor licensing hours, and school hours to account for the time change—but these can't increase or decrease total hours by more than one hour.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Everyone in Western Australia during the specified periods.\n- Businesses with regulated trading hours, employees under industrial awards, schools, and licensed venues.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law was Western Australia's attempt to test and potentially adopt daylight saving permanently. It creates a democratic mechanism (the referendum) to decide the outcome, with the permanent change happening automatically if voters approve. Notably, section 6 never came into operation because the 2009 referendum was defeated."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006","history":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006/history","analysis":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/daylight-saving-act-2006/documents"}}