When Does Daylight Saving Time Start? Here Are the Aussie Dates for 2023

Daylight saving time is a double-edged sword. Yes, you get extra hours of daylight to enjoy in summer, but you need to mess with your body clock and increase the number of time zones in Australia to get it.

When it comes time for daylight saving to begin, the clocks jump forward an hour, resulting in one less hour of sleep (don’t worry, you’ll get it back later). So when can you expect those extra hours of sunshine in 2023?

As we’re now officially in Spring, it means it’s almost time for daylight saving time to begin. Here are the daylight saving dates for 2023.

When does daylight saving start in 2023?

Daylight saving time begins every year on the first Sunday in October, which this year makes it Sunday, October 1. Clocks will move forward an hour at 2:00 am, and suddenly, we’ll have five time zones in Australia.

When will daylight saving time end?

Following six months of extra sunshine daylight saving will come to an end in April. You’ll be getting your extra hour of sleep back on the first Sunday in April next year, which is April 7, 2024. This will be about a week after the Easter weekend in 2024, which serves as a good reminder to prepare to change your clocks.

If you can never remember whether it’s time to turn the clock forward or back an hour, check out this handy rule which might just stay with you forever.

How does the time change affect me?

For some reason, not every state and territory in Australia uses daylight saving, which makes all those meetings and calls with other states that much more difficult.

New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT all observe daylight saving. If you’re located in one of these areas you’ll need to adhere to the daylight saving schedule.

Meanwhile, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not. This means that during daylight saving there are five time zones to observe instead of three.

If you want to prepare yourself for daylight saving here are some tips the Australian Sleep Health Foundation has put together:

• Make the bedroom as bright as possible when you first wake up in the morning.
• Eat a good breakfast.
• Go outside in the sunlight in the early mornings.
• Exercise outside in the mornings.
• Try to get between seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
• Don’t exercise just before going to bed.
• Don’t drink coffee, tea or other caffeine drinks in the evening, avoid smoking just before bed or during the night.
• Don’t go to bed hungry or too soon after eating a large meal.
• Go to bed 15 -20 minutes earlier for 3 to 4 days before putting the clocks forward.
• Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier on Saturday and Sunday mornings in preparation for the early start on Monday.

Will Australia end daylight saving time?

Given the long-winded debate over the various time zone changes mentioned above, there’s often been speculation about whether daylight saving time will be eradicated altogether.

The U.S. government passed a bill last year to make daylight saving time permanent, giving everyone more sunshine in the afternoon all year round. But will this happen in Australia?

A leading psychology professor at Monash University, Sean Cain, called for an end to DST, saying “The transitions are annoying, absolutely, but if you go full daylight saving time all the time, at some times of year you’re going to be waking up way before the sun. You’re body’s screaming, ‘go back to bed’. It’s not right, it’s very unhealthy.”

Professor Cain added that daylight saving time was originally introduced to conserve energy, which “doesn’t really make sense anymore”.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the government brings back the discussion around daylight saving to see if any change is made.

This article has been updated since its original publish date to reflect details of daylight saving time in 2023.

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