Type I
Direct Answer
Type I, the Australian/New Zealand standard, uses two flat pins angled in a V-shape plus a flat earth pin. China and Argentina use dimensionally similar but genuinely incompatible variants -- Chinese plugs don't physically fit, and Argentine plugs fit but with reversed polarity.
Source: AS/NZS 3112
Specs
| Pins | 2 flat pins in an inverted V + 1 flat earth pin |
| Rated Current | 10 (15A, 20A, 25A, and 32A variants also exist) A |
| Rated Voltage | 230 V |
| Grounded | Yes (2-pin ungrounded version also exists for double-insulated devices) |
| Common Regions | Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands |
Close, But Not Interchangeable, With China and Argentina
The Australasian standard (current edition AS/NZS 3112:2025) traces back to an American plug patented by Harvey Hubbell in 1916, later adapted for 230-250V use in Australia from roughly 1930. Higher-current variants (15A, 20A, 25A, 32A) use progressively different pin widths and earth-pin shapes specifically so a higher-rated plug physically cannot be forced into a lower-rated socket.
China and Argentina both use plugs that look nearly identical to Type I but are genuinely not the same standard: Chinese pins run about 1mm longer and the plug is effectively oriented upside-down relative to the Australian design, so Chinese plugs do not fit AS/NZS sockets at all. Argentine plugs are closer dimensionally and often physically mate with Australasian sockets, but with active and neutral reversed -- a real electrical polarity mismatch, not just a formality, and worth treating as a genuine incompatibility rather than assuming interchangeability.