Karmactive Staff
Australian daylight saving starts this Sunday, 4 October 2026. If you’re in one of the five participating states or territories, you lose an hour of sleep this weekend. If you’re working a night shift when the clocks change, your payslip may look different from usual — and checking your employment agreement before the weekend is worth doing.
At 2:00 am on Sunday 4 October 2026, clocks in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory move forward to 3:00 am. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving and do not change their clocks. From Sunday morning, the time difference between Sydney and Brisbane shifts from zero to one hour for the first time in six months. Daylight saving ends on Sunday 4 April 2027, when clocks move back one hour.
The practical effect for most people is losing one hour of sleep on Saturday night and gaining an extra hour of evening daylight through summer. Analogue clocks, appliances with built-in clocks and some older software systems don’t update automatically — those need manual adjustment.
What Happens If You're Working an Overnight Shift
An eight-hour night shift starting at 10:00 pm Saturday 4 October will end at 5:00 am clock time rather than 6:00 am — because the clock jumped forward at 2:00 am, effectively removing an hour. That shift covers seven actual hours of work. Whether you’re paid for seven or eight depends on your employment contract.
Under Fair Work guidelines, unless your employment award or enterprise agreement explicitly specifies that payment is based on actual hours worked, employees are paid “by the clock.” That means your roster shows eight hours, you get paid for eight, even though only seven passed. Workers whose agreements specifically pay for hours worked rather than rostered hours receive pay for seven. If you’re on an award or enterprise agreement and aren’t sure which applies, check with your employer’s payroll team before the weekend.
The NSW–Queensland border creates an immediate logistical split from Sunday morning. Coolangatta and Tweed Heads — effectively the same town, divided by the state border — become separated by a one-hour time difference, as they do every daylight saving season. Cross-border businesses, health services and commuters manage split timetables for the next six months. For a [full breakdown of time zones across Australian states after daylight saving begins](/australia-time-zones-daylight-saving) and [what the research says about circadian disruption when clocks change](/daylight-saving-sleep-health-research), both are covered on Karmactive.
Daylight saving ends Sunday 4 April 2027 — clocks move back one hour and you regain the sleep you’re losing this weekend.
