Daylight savings is about far more than pushing the clock forward an hour once a year. It is about Perth being able and willing to embrace change, rather than shrugging its collective head and turning away from it.
Just yesterday I was giving a presentation to Economics students at Curtin University on Vibrancy when one of them stated:
“Perth is a small town, why should we try and change who we are?”
I was completely shocked. I couldn’t believe I heard this from an Economist – maybe an Accountant (a profession that focuses on numbers, not concepts), but not an Economist!
In the first instance, Perth is not a small town. It is a very large city with a large number of people, only a reflexive cultural cringe could think of it as being ‘small’ (many cities in the US are well known to us, even though they have equivalent or smaller populations, ie Portland).
In the second instance, change is a function of living. An inability to accept it or adjust to change is a sign of senility.
Perth has an incredible future ahead of it. Potential business investment (a key component of economic growth) is well over $170 billion for WA, this is far more than the current economy!
Perth has a desperate need for the highly skilled people who drive economic growth and will ensure the future prosperity of the State. Currently, the conservative mindset and unwillingness of the state to adapt means that the ‘best and brightest’ young people in the State are the ones most likely to move east.
Investigating the demographics of migration show that people in their early 20’s to early 30’s are the ones most likely to migrate away from Perth. They may come back, but it is to settle down and spawn.
The constant rejection of change (by the whole state through referendums of daylight savings or deregulated trading hours, or by local governments stopping businesses simply innovating and investing in new ventures) is an implicit message that change is unwelcome. That ‘new fangled’ concepts should remain ‘over East’ where they came from.
Irrespective of your personal preference about the time of day, it is about showing the rest of the country that WA is capable of embracing change.
Excellent insight. I have found that people in general are unwilling to change right across Australia. Let’s face it, change is difficult and hard to manage. However the extreme competition for all business in the Eastern States forces it to be more flexible or suffer the consequences. We live off (or have done)the back of a basic industry – mining. We dig holes in the ground and money pours in. If change is pain then avoidance is the tried and trusted method. Is that the way for the future? I think it makes us vulnerable and puts us behind the eight ball. But hey, that is just me.
In my experience, Perth does not lack for HIGHLY talented creative people – its just that they often have to go “over east” to get recognised.
In my spare spare time I am involved with the theatre company WhipLash (WhipLashtheatre.com) which was set up because WA produces some extraordinarly talented actors (think Heath and Hugh as only 2 of the largest) but they do not get many opportunities to tout their wares.
Its about time that WA invests something back into its future – VOTE YES!