16 May 2009

Referendum being held on daylight saving

6:38 am on 16 May 2009

Another referendum is being held in Western Australia on Saturday to decide whether the state should adopt daylight saving.

The referendum is the fourth to be held on the issue of whether the state should put clocks forward from the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday in March.

Previous referendums were held in 1992, 1984 and 1975: all had no votes of more than 53%.

The ABC reports daylight saving was supported in Perth but overwhelmingly opposed in country areas in all the previous votes.

Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately says there's been a big response from early voters: over 70,000 had already cast their vote. Some 1.3 million people are eligible to vote.

Polling places open at 8am (local time) and close at 6pm. Results are expected to start coming through about an hour later.

They will be available on the commission's website.