WEST Coast businesses and schools should consider changing their trading hours to accommodate a state time zone switch, says SA Investment and Trade Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith.
Following a consultation period, the state government has announced it is in favour of adopting Eastern Standard Time.
Mr Hamilton-Smith said the consultation produced "very legitimate" concerns from those on Eyre Peninsula.
He said one option the government was considering was to propose a shift to the times schools, and other government offices, open and close.
"We will also open a discussion with West Coast councils to change their business opening hours," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
He said the proposal to change business hours would not result in the state being divided in two.
"There will be one time zone, with two different arrangements for when offices open and close," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
He said feedback from the West Coast was "not the universal view in the country".
He said responses from people living in the Riverlands or South East were more positive about the opportunities that would open up in aligning with the eastern states.
Mr Hamilton-Smith said the estimated $2.5 billion in net economic benefits from the shift, proposed by the SA Centre for Economic Studies, included country communities.
He said the largest export market for SA wine and produce was the eastern states.
"The figures for export and trade we have to the eastern states are bigger than our international markets combined," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
"We're in the same economic zone, why shouldn't we be in the same time zone?"
He said the consultation period had been thorough and inclusive.
"As with all key decisions not everyone gets their way, but they have been heard," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
"We were looking at the quality of arguments rather than the quantity or the noise made."
He said the next two key issues were looking at impacts of a time zone change on the Adelaide airport and a closer look at options for those on the West Coast.
Primary Producers SA chairman Rob Kerin said he was surprised by the news.
"It is at odds with what the government's work came up with," he said.
"It was pretty much that the two favoured options were either status quo or going backwards half an hour.
"It's a little bit hard to work out."
Mr Kerin took part in the consultation process, including a meeting in Adelaide, and said most Adelaide businesses spoke against moving to EST because it would mean their workers were travelling to work in the dark.
"I would have thought the issue of worker safety, getting to and starting work, was an issue for everybody in the metropolitan area," he said.
"And for the EP, EST makes no sense."
The results of a PPSA survey showed 52 per cent in favour of the status quo, 42.5pc in favour of moving back 30 minutes to be one hour behind EST and only 5pc in favour of a move to EST.
A similar survey conducted by the SA Wine Industry Association found 55pc were in favour of moving to EST, 24pc for the status quo and 21pc to move back.
