MP Terry Coe continues his call on the government to change the international date line

Common Roll member Terry Coe is again submitting a motion to the Fono Ekepule next week to change the international date line.

According to Coe “This will be very helpful for the businesses when dealing with overseas people, that we are operating on the same time”.

Terry Coe says that this is one of the motions that he has submitted numerous times before the Fono Ekepule in his 30 years in parliament and he will continue to do until the government finally decides to write to the authorities in England requesting the change of the dateline.

The international date line established in 1884, passes through the mid-Pacific ocean and functions as a line of demarcation separating two consecutive calendar dates. Countries are free to choose the dates that they observe.

Terry Coe says, changing the date line will not cost the government anything.

Coe is not alone in the call to changing the dateline, international consultant Coral Pasisi told BCN news that with the current situation, consultants like herself are having to work additional days to make up for the mismatched time zones. “As a consultant operating from Niue, this has essentially meant for me to stay in business, I have had to work Sunday through Thursday for the last 6 years. And often work on Friday as well to support local voluntary efforts.  I have also had to work National Holiday’s here as my trading partners holidays don’t align”.

She says that “This is not optimal for work life balance or for maximising opportunity for productive working hours” adding that her children think she’s going to hell because she works on Sundays.

Pasisi says that she does not see any disbenefits from moving the date line and she hopes that this motion by Terry Coe will finally pass next week at the Fono Ekepule.