The Redistribution Committee for Victoria has published its report proposing names and boundaries for the state’s federal electoral divisions.
Committee chair and electoral commissioner Tom Rogers said the Victorian redistribution was needed to reduce the number of electoral divisions from 39 to 38.
He said the committee had to remove one of the state’s electorates, resulting in 29 of the 39 divisions being outside the allowed population number.
“Under the proposal some significant changes would occur, with the boundaries of Victorian divisions being amended to accommodate the decrease,” Mr Rogers said.
“Thirty-eight of the existing 39 division names would be retained, with the Division of Higgins to be abolished.”
The proposal would see the following key changes:
- the abolition of the Division of Higgins, and distribution of its electors to the surrounding divisions of Chisholm, Hotham, Kooyong, Macnamara and Melbourne;
- altering the boundaries of 34 electoral divisions in Victoria, which in some cases involve minimal elector movement;
- most divisions having a rural, provincial, or metropolitan focus, with future growth more evenly distributed across electoral divisions;
- one metropolitan division crossing the Yarra River.
Nicholls has had minor changes to the southern parts of the region but neighbouring electorate Indi has no changes to its boundary.
The public is welcome to provide feedback on the new electoral boundaries by submitting a written objection.
Written objections can agree or disagree with any part of the proposal.
Objections must be submitted by 6pm on Friday, June 28.
Submissions can be made
- Online at aec.gov.au/redistributions
- Emailing FedRedistribution-VIC@aec.gov.au
- Posted to Australian Electoral Commission (Attn: Victorian Redistribution Secretariat), Locked Bag 4007, Canberra ACT 2601
- Faxed to (02) 6215 9970
All input received by the deadline will be available for public inspection on the redistributions website.
Members of the House of Representatives elected at the 2022 federal election, and in federal by-elections since that time, will continue to represent their respective electoral divisions until the next federal election.
For more details, including factors considered by the Redistribution Committee for Victoria, see the full proposal report and maps of proposed electoral divisions.
More information about the redistribution process and guidance on making submissions is also available.