Long-time Gunnedah advocate Judith Law said the private member’s bill to reduce the period from six months to five is not what she and fellow Citizens Against Daylight Saving (CADS) had hoped for.

“We would accept two months but not one month,” Mrs Law said. 

“I can’t believe they have left us hanging for so long on the issue.”

With an outcome imminent, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall tabled in State Parliament on Tuesday a 6000-signature petition supporting the bill.

“The petition demonstrates the strength of support for the reduction in our region and that this is a serious issue for people in the bush,” Mr Marshall said.

“It’s not about ending daylight saving… this is purely about ending it just one month earlier.”

He said the legislation, if successful, would bring the end of daylight saving forward one month, from the first Sunday in April to the first Sunday in March each year.

Mrs Law also urged Gunnedah Shire Council to reconsider its support for the daylight reduction. Her plea follows a failed motion at council last month to recognise the campaign by members of CADS by supporting the request for government to act on the issue. The motion was lost because councillors felt the community was not properly consulted on the issue and council’s representation.

In a letter to the editor this week, she highlighted the two-decade involvement of the Nationals, who she said is the only political party to oppose any extensions to daylight saving.

She also described farmers, often at the centre of daylight saving debate in the bush, as the “backbone” of regional communities.

“Farmers have always been the backbone of our country towns, which prospered when they hired townspeople to work on their farms,” she said. 

“Small towns grew with wealth and stability and enjoyed all the vital elements to survive that larger towns provided.”

In a separate letter, Jillian Spring recently wrote to the Namoi Valley Independent and suggested a three-year trial without any daylight saving period.

“The only way to achieve experience of advantages, disadvantages from DS is for a trial,” Ms Spring said.