Media Release 2010: Proposal for Victorian Federal Electoral Redistribution

30 July 2010

The Redistribution Committee for Victoria today published its report detailing the proposed federal electoral boundaries for the state's 37 federal divisions.

The proposed boundaries for Victoria do not apply for the 21 August 2010 federal election: the current electoral boundaries remain in place.

The redistribution only takes effect when the final determination is made on 17 December 2010. Therefore, for the purpose of electing federal members of Parliament, the redrawn Victorian boundaries will not apply until the first federal election after that determination date.

The redistribution commenced on 1 February this year because seven years had elapsed since Victoria was last distributed into electoral divisions.

The redistribution process is not deferred because of the federal election. The Chair of the Redistribution Committee and Electoral Commissioner, Mr Ed Killesteyn, said that the Committee was required by legislation to redraw the boundaries to ensure, as far as practicable, that the number of electors in each division at 17 June 2014 did not vary by more than 3.5% below and above the state's average projected enrolment of 101 222 electors.

Mr Killesteyn said that the Committee was faced with a situation where only nine of the 37 divisions fell within the acceptable 3.5% range. As a result, the status quo could not be maintained.

The Committee noted that enrolment growth was projected, generally, to be highest in the Melbourne metropolitan fringe regions, and lowest in the eastern suburbs and in outer rural areas.

Within the numerical framework, the Committee took into consideration suggestions received from the public, community of interests, communication and transport links, physical features, and the current federal boundaries, when making its proposal.

Mr Killesteyn said that the Committee adopted the broad approach of supplementing divisions with relatively low enrolment with electors from areas with higher enrolment numbers.

While seeking to make incremental moves to provide this supplementation, the Committee found that more substantial change was needed in some locations in order to meet the numerical requirements specified in the Electoral Act.

The Committee has proposed that a new division be created and named 'Burke', in recognition of the explorer Robert O'Hara Burke on the 150th anniversary of his 'Victorian Exploring Expedition' across Australia. It is proposed that the Division of Burke be located in the high enrolment growth area to the north-west of Melbourne.

As a result of the consequential moves arising from the creation of the new division, the Committee has proposed that the Division of Murray be abolished. The Division of McEwen has moved northwards to take in a significant portion of the current Division of Murray. The Division of Casey has extended to the east and takes on more rural characteristics.

Full details of the Redistribution Committee's proposal, including maps, are available. Copies of the report may be obtained from the Redistribution Secretariat (email vicredistribution@aec.gov.au or telephone (03) 9285 7177).

Mr Killesteyn said that the consultative nature of the redistribution process continues with individuals and organisations now able to lodge objections against the Committee's proposed redistribution.

Written objections must be lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission no later than 6pm on Friday 27 August 2010:

• in person to the Redistribution Secretariat, Level 8, Casselden Place, 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000;
• by email to vicredistribution@aec.gov.au;
• by post to GPO Box 9867, Melbourne, Victoria, 8060; or
• by facsimile to (03) 9285 7169.

All objections received by the deadline will be available for public inspection at the AEC State Office in Melbourne and on the AEC website from Monday 30 August 2010. Comments on the objections will be accepted until 6pm on 10 September 2010.

In closing, Mr Killesteyn reiterated that the proposed boundaries do not apply to the 2010 federal election.

Further Information

The Executive Summary, from the 2010 Proposed Redistribution of Victoria into Electoral Divisions, follows below. The full report is available.

Mrs Jenni McMullan
State Manager, AEC, Victoria
03 9285 7100
0438 255 979

Phil Diak | Director Media
AEC, Canberra
02 6271 4415
0413 452 539

Executive summary

The Redistribution Committee (the Committee), in considering options for the distribution of the 37 federal electoral division boundaries in Victoria, sought to account for and provide a full and proper consideration of all factors brought before it as required by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act).

These factors included actual and projected enrolment figures, and suggestions and comments provided by individuals and organisations. The Committee also sought, wherever possible, to unite community of interests and use clearly identifiable features as divisional boundaries.

The Committee was faced with a situation where only nine of the 37 federal electoral divisions in Victoria fell within the acceptable numerical range for projected electors as at 17 June 2014. Therefore, widespread change was unavoidable in meeting the numerical requirements of the Electoral Act.

A number of enrolment patterns emerged, as illustrated in Maps 1 and 2 [available in the report], which guided the Committee in its deliberations. In particular, the Committee was cognisant of:

• several divisions surrounding the Melbourne metropolitan fringe which contain well over the number of permissible electors, including:
  • a cluster of three divisions, Lalor, Gorton and Calwell, west of Melbourne with average projected enrolment more than 20% above that for the state, and
  • the Division of McEwen with projected enrolment 21.35% above the state average and sharing boundaries with seven divisions below the projected average;
• a group of 13 adjoining metropolitan divisions in the east, Kooyong, Menzies, Deakin, Higgins, Chisholm, Bruce, Goldstein, Aston, Casey, Hotham, Jagajaga, Batman and Scullin, with average projected enrolment nearly 7% below the state average; and
• a ring of five rural divisions, Wannon, Mallee, Murray, Indi and McMillan, with average projected enrolment more than 6% below the state average.

The fundamental challenge for the Committee was to redraw the boundaries so that electors from the divisions with high projected enrolment supplemented those divisions which had to grow to satisfy the numerical requirements of the Electoral Act. To achieve this outcome, the Committee first focussed on the metropolitan fringe divisions which needed to lose electors.

McEwen's unique position as a bridging division between the low enrolment growth metropolitan divisions to its south and rural divisions to its north made it a logical starting point.

The Committee has proposed that south-western McEwen be combined with the northern part of the Division of Calwell, which has high projected enrolment in its north-western metropolitan area, and southern Bendigo to create a new division named Burke. The Committee noted that projected enrolment for Bendigo is verging on the maximum permissible range. The creation of a division in the north-western metropolitan fringe reflects the high projected enrolment growth in this region, better delineates urban and rural areas, and positions the Committee to realign other divisions in and around the western growth belt.

The name Burke is proposed in recognition of Australian explorer Robert O'Hara Burke. Significantly, 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the epic Burke and Wills expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The proposed Division of Burke contains three of the historic campsites used by his expedition.

From McEwen, the Committee continued its considerations of the south-western electoral divisions, beginning in the metropolitan area and the provincial divisions along the Port Phillip Bay and the Southern Ocean coastlines, and progressively redrawing the boundaries so that each division contained the required number of projected electors.

This led to a series of consequential transfers throughout regional Victoria where supplementation was needed. The cumulative effect of this approach left the Division of Murray with no contact with the Murray River itself and well under the numerical tolerance. Similarly the remaining part of the Division of McEwen was well under the enrolment limit. Indi, having gained the Moira Shire, had more enrolment than required but not enough to supplement both Murray and McEwen. Therefore, the Committee has proposed that the western portion of Indi be combined with the remainder of Murray and the northern parts of McEwen into a single division which retains the name McEwen. Murray has been dispersed to address the deficit in the surrounding rural divisions.

The Committee then addressed the low enrolment divisions in the south-east metropolitan area by proposing that the Docklands area be relocated from the Division of Melbourne to the Division of Melbourne Ports, setting up a series of consequential transfers throughout the inner eastern divisions. This leaves the Division of Casey needing to gain electors. These have been drawn from McEwen, making Casey more rural in nature and thereby reflecting a strong community of interest.

The Committee's proposal makes no change to the Division of Ballarat, and only minor changes to the divisions of Flinders, Dunkley and Gippsland. Overall, 16.99% of electors change their federal electoral division as a result of the proposed redistribution.

Extract from 2010 Proposed Redistribution of Victoria into Electoral Divisions.

Note

Indi is an Aboriginal name for the Murray River.