5 November 1999

The augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales has concluded its deliberations on the new boundaries for the 50 Divisions for New South Wales.

The Chairman of the Australian Electoral Commission and presiding member of the augmented Electoral Commission, the Hon. Trevor Morling QC, said "The augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales has reviewed the proposed Redistribution of the State and considered all objections to the Redistribution Committee's proposal, as well as comments on objections and the material placed before it at a public hearing held in Sydney on 7 October 1999.

"Following these deliberations the augmented Electoral Commission has determined to adopt the proposal of the Redistribution Committee for New South Wales which was published on 16 July 1999, save for the changes detailed below:

Divisions of Berowra and Mitchell

The locality of Castle Hill, including the Anglican Retirement Villages, is moved to Mitchell. As a consequence, an area of Baulkham Hills Local Government Area, from Middle Dural to Wisemans Ferry, is moved from Mitchell to Berowra.

Divisions of Gilmore and Hume

The locality of New Berrima is united with the remainder of Berrima in Hume.

Divisions of Lyne and Paterson

Great Lakes Local Government Area is united in Paterson.

Divisions of Lindsay and Macquarie

Whilst no objection was lodged, it was brought to the augmented Electoral Commission's attention that a small number of electors in the proposed Macquarie were isolated from the rest of the Division, and so these electors have been moved to Lindsay.

Names of proposed Divisions

The augmented Electoral Commission confirmed the Redistribution Committee's assessment that the proposed Divisions can be readily identified with the existing 50 Divisions and determined to retain the names of the existing Divisions, while removing the hyphen from the spelling of the name 'Kingsford Smith'.

In addition, the augmented Electoral Commission decided that the name of the Division of Macarthur should be considered to honour Elizabeth Macarthur (1769-1850) as well as John Macarthur (1767-1834), in recognition of both of their contributions to the development of New South Wales. The Division of Macarthur was named after Captain Macarthur when first proclaimed in 1949.

"While considering the merit of other changes proposed in the objections, the augmented Electoral Commission reached the conclusion that the criteria of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 were met more completely by retaining the proposals made by the Redistribution Committee.

"The augmented Electoral Commission resolved that the agreed changes were not significant and, therefore, the redistribution process has been concluded without the need for further objections or hearings.

"The new boundaries will come into effect at the next federal election; however, any by-election which may occur before the next federal election will be held on the current boundaries.

"The formal determination of the Redistribution will be gazetted as soon as practicable and the augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales' full Report, including maps of Divisional boundaries, will be available in due course."

Background:

The members of the augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales are:

Chairman of the Australian Electoral Commission	Hon Trevor Morling QC
Electoral Commissioner	Mr Bill Gray AM
Australian Statistician	Mr Bill McLennan AM
Australian Electoral Officer for New South Wales	Ms Frances Howat
Surveyor-General of New South Wales	Mr Don Grant AM
Auditor-General of New South Wales	Mr Bob Sendt

A statistical summary of the final Divisions is attached and outline maps of the changed areas are available on request.

Further Information:

Ms Frances Howat
Tel: (02) 9375 6300
Australian Electoral Officer for New South Wales

		26 February 1999		30 June 2003
		Number of Electors	Variation From Quota (%)	Projected Number of Electors	Variation from Average Divisional Enrolment (%)	Area (square kilometres)
1	Banks	83335	1.38	86364	-1.68	54.48
2	Barton	85591	4.12	87167	-0.77	42.15
3	Bennelong	85422	3.92	88920	1.22	53.15
4	Berowra	83332	1.37	88868	1.17	711.91
5	Blaxland	82392	0.23	86347	-1.70	54.09
6	Bradfield	88134	7.22	89796	2.22	96.59
7	Calare	83454	1.52	86370	-1.68	21621.37
8	Charlton	81112	-1.33	85200	-3.01	567.53
9	Chifley	82119	-0.10	89560	1.95	109.95
10	Cook	81530	-0.82	85538	-2.63	188.76
11	Cowper	77392	-5.85	85598	-2.56	7699.59
12	Cunningham	80989	-1.48	86891	-1.08	489.80
13	Dobell	77409	-5.83	85492	-2.68	951.89
14	Eden-Monaro	79594	-3.17	87600	-0.28	30945.90
15	Farrer	84047	2.24	87392	-0.51	96844.04
16	Fowler	83098	1.09	88821	1.11	47.41
17	Gilmore	78993	-3.90	86640	-1.37	5612.41
18	Grayndler	85175	3.62	87070	-0.88	29.30
19	Greenway	81710	-0.60	86963	-1.00	119.73
20	Gwydir	85002	3.41	85043	-3.19	185604.20
21	Hughes	83004	0.98	89586	1.98	265.09
22	Hume	81561	-0.78	88115	0.31	25948.11
23	Hunter	82561	0.44	86983	-0.98	10593.50
24	Kingsford Smith	86641	5.40	90237	2.72	62.32
25	Lindsay	78157	-4.92	85492	-2.68	350.82
26	Lowe	81518	-0.83	86010	-2.09	40.97
27	Lyne	83188	1.20	89608	2.01	9291.11
28	Macarthur	74115	-9.84	89829	2.26	572.77
29	Mackellar	84716	3.06	88008	0.19	229.21
30	Macquarie	83849	2.00	90777	3.34	4196.69
31	Mitchell	78465	-4.55	90353	2.86	182.12
32	Newcastle	87803	6.81	89466	1.85	198.51
33	New England	84028	2.22	85167	-3.05	53857.99
34	North Sydney	86185	4.85	90387	2.89	38.61
35	Page	81866	-0.41	86865	-1.11	16682.25
36	Parkes	83286	1.32	85685	-2.46	268674.30
37	Parramatta	86696	5.47	90618	3.16	61.35
38	Paterson	78355	-4.68	85538	-2.63	9632.36
39	Prospect	85694	4.25	90786	3.35	158.74
40	Reid	76022	-7.52	90227	2.71	61.79
41	Richmond	75686	-7.93	87840	-0.01	2137.17
42	Riverina	86494	5.22	89392	1.76	44970.51
43	Robertson	81480	-0.88	88778	1.06	785.07
44	Shortland	83460	1.53	89364	1.73	303.68
45	Sydney	76978	-6.36	86274	-1.79	49.92
46	Throsby	80697	-1.83	86505	-1.52	387.45
47	Warringah	84641	2.97	87657	-0.21	55.71
48	Watson	82939	0.90	85680	-2.46	33.08
49	Wentworth	86046	4.68	89784	2.21	26.12
50	Werriwa	74139	-9.81	89572	1.97	168.40
	Total	4110100		4392223