On 26 February 1999, the Electoral Commissioner directed that a redistribution of electoral Divisions commence in New South Wales. The redistribution was triggered as seven years had lapsed since New South Wales was last redistributed. Further details of the 1999 redistribution process are in Electoral Newsfile number 80and number 82.

The new federal electoral boundaries for the 50 divisions in New South Wales have been finalised by the augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales.

On 26 February 1999, the Electoral Commission directed that a redistribution of electoral Divisions commence in New South Wales. Electoral Newsfile number 82 (July 1999) outlined the Redistribution Committee for New South Wales' proposal.

The augmented Electoral Commission considered 206 objections and 17 comments on the objections to the proposal, as well as the material put before it during a public inquiry held on 7 October 1999.

In announcing its determination on 5 November 1999, the augmented Electoral Commission substantialy adopted the Redistribution Committee's proposal, except for the following changes.

Changes to the Redistribution

Committee's proposal

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

Summary of movement of electors between divisions

Electors in New South Wales at 26 February 1999	4,110,100
Electors remaining within their current Division	3,680,537	89%
Electors transferred to another Division	429,563	11%

Divisions of Gilmore and Hume

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

Divisions of Lyne and Paterson

Great Lakes Local Government Area has been 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 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.

Conclusion of redistribution process

The augmented Electoral Commission considered the merit of other changes proposed in objections, and comments on the objections, but concluded that the criteria of the Commonwealth Electoral Act were able to be met more completely by retaining the boundaries proposed by the Redistribution Committee.

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

What is a redistribution?

A redistribution is a redrawing of electoral boundaries to ensure that, as nearly as practicable, there are the same number of electors in each Division for a given State or Territory.

At the beginning of the process, the Electoral Commissioner determines the `quota', or the average number of electors for each Division.

The number of people enrolled in each electoral Division may not vary by more or less than 10% of the quota.

Determination of quota at 26 February 1999

Number of Divisions into which New South Wales is to be distributed	50
Number of electors enrolled in New South Wales	4,110,100
Quota for New South Wales	82,202
Maximum number of electors (+10%) in a Division	90,422
Minimum number of electors (-10%) in a Division	73,982

Three and a half years after the redistribution, the number of people enrolled in each Division should be within plus or minus 3.5% of the projected average enrolment.

ENROLMENT PROJECTIONS FOR 30 JUNE 2003

Number of Divisions into which New South Wales is to be distributed	50
Projected number of electors in New South Wales	4,392,223
Projected average enrolment for New South Wales	87,844
Projected average enrolment plus 3.5%	90,918
Projected average enrolment minus 3.5%	84,77

STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF THE REDISTRIBUTION

	26 February			30 June 2003
	Division	No. 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

Further details of the 1999 redistribution of federal electoral boundaries in New South Wales are contained in Electoral Newsfile number 80 and number 82.

STEPS IN THE NEW SOUTH WALES REDISTRIBUTION PROCESS

26 February 1999	Redistribution directed and quota struck The Electoral Commission directed that a redistribution commence in New South Wales. The Electoral Commissioner determined the quota of electors in each Division in New South Wales to be 82,202.
2 March	Redistribution Committee for New South Wales appointed
17 March	Public suggestions and comments invited
16 April	Period for suggestions closed The Redistribution Committee received 11 suggestions for the redistribution.
30 April	Period for comments on suggestions closed Forty-one comments were received on the suggestions.
16 July	Redistribution Committee for New South Wales issued its proposed redistribution and invited objections to the proposal Notice of the proposed redistribution was published in the Gazette. Detailed maps, statistical tables and the Committee's rationale for the proposal were published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph.
13 August	Period for objections to the proposal closed 206 objections were lodged.
27 August	Period for comments on objections closed 16 comments on the objections were received.
7 October	Public inquiry by augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales 18 people made submissions at the public inquiry.
5 November	Augmented Electoral Commission issued public notice of its decisions
11 February 2000	Redistribution determined The augmented Electoral Commission's determination published in the Gazette and final report released.

Augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales

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

Click here to view the Division Maps

Australian Electoral Commission Contacts

Central Office

Electoral Commissioner (02) 6271 4400
Andy Becker (acting)

Deputy Electoral Commissioner (02) 6271 4410
Mark Cunliffe (acting)

Director, Information
Anthea Wilson (acting) (02) 6271 4415

Assistant Directors, Information
Bernadette O'Meara (02) 6271 4548
Silvana Puizina (02) 6271 4431

Editor, Newsfile
Margaret Meneghel (02) 6271 4505

Redistribution Secretariat
Wayne Seymour (02) 6271 4688

State/Territory Offices.

The administration of federal elections and referendums are under the control of the Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) for that State or Territory. AEOs may be contacted on the following numbers.

New South Wales Frances Howat Ph. (02) 9375 6300 Fx. (02) 9281 9384	South Australia Geoff Halsey Ph. (08) 8237 6555 Fx. (08) 8231 2664
Victoria David Muffet Ph. (03) 9285 7171 Fx. (03) 9285 7178	Tasmania Alex Stanelos (acting) Ph. (03) 6235 0500 Fx. (03) 6234 4268
Queensland Bob Longland Ph. (07) 3834 3400 Fx. (07) 3831 7223	Northern Territory Paul Anderson (acting) Ph. (08) 8982 8000 Fx. (08) 8981 7964
Western Australia Andrew Moyes Ph. (08) 9470 7299 Fx. (08) 9472 3551

NATIONAL ENQUIRY SERVICE 13 23 26

Further Information

The AEC produces a range of information materials for political parties, journalists and other people interested in the electoral process.

These are available from all AEC offices and the AEC internet web site.