Clive D.W. Feather <clive <at> davros.org> writes:
Random832 said:
"There are three timezones across Australia. Given that there seem to be at least five, this doesn't seem too reliable.
How do you figure? Consider that in common layperson usage, "time zones" only refers to the standard offset itself (and perhaps the basic name Eastern/Central/Western), not whether/when daylight savings is in effect.
In winter, there are five common clock settings (including Lord Howe Island and Eucla), while in summer there are six. Neither of those numbers feels consistent with "three".
(Note that this is not like the continental USA, which only has four values at any time of year, even if the boundaries shift around.)
I feel this is getting off topic arguing the technicality of how many timezones there are detracts from the point that the database contains abbreviations that are ambiguous and are not recognised by everyday Australians, state, federal or territory governments. It seems that the abbreviations were created due to legislation mentioning summer time rather than daylight savings, although there has been no evidence I've seen presented that EST is a regconised abbreviation of Easter Summer time in Australia. On the other hand I presented multiple government sites as reference for the use of the Australian Governments abbreviation format. But if we must. As already mentioned the common layperson usage of timezones in Australia is that there is only three as these timezones cover the vast majority of the population. As further reference please see the Western Australia's official tourism site: "There are three time zones in Australia: Time Zone Clocks Western Standard Time (AWST - GMT + 8:00) in Western Australia Central Standard Time (ACST - GMT + 9:30) in South Australia and Northern Territory; and Eastern Standard Time (AEST - GMT +10:00) which operates in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland. ACST is half an hour behind AEST, while AWST is two hours behind AEST." http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Travel_Info/Important_Travel_Tips/Pages/T... I must say its rather belittling as an Australian to see how many times my fellow Australians have brought up this issue only to be ignored and told that the abbreviations we use everyday are not correct.