THE half-hour time zone gap with the eastern states makes South Australia a laughing stock overseas, a former trade official in London says.

David Travers, now chief executive of the University College London, has called on the government to bring SA into line as part of the state rebranding exercise.



"I was the state's deputy agent-general in London for more than four years," Mr Travers says in an open letter to Premier Jay Weatherill.



"If there was a single issue which consistently arose with prospective SA investors, it was 'what's with the half-hour time zone'.



"This was inevitably followed by laughter."



Mr Travers said he grew up in Cleve so understood the objections raised by the Eyre Peninsula community.



However, lessons from countries around the world showed these objections were easily overcome.



UCL suggested the state should move forwards by half an hour in line with the Australian Eastern Standard Time so "standardisation would make business easier, coordinating identical starting times for eastern state exams, for example", he said.



"This simple policy change would send a "clear and unambiguous" signal that South Australia was not different when it came to doing business."



He said the argument about "poor farm children" having to catch the school bus in the dark was a weak one because it was a minor impact. Mr Travers recalled his days as a student of the Cleve Area School for 12 years to back the statement.



Mr Travers has prepared a brief paper in support of the move off the 30-minute zone.



"It would be a positive morale boost for the state at a time when the economic spirit has taken a hit," he said.

