The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has released its proposed names and boundaries for the three electoral divisions due to apply in the ACT from the next Federal election.
Chair of the Redistribution Committee and Electoral Commissioner, Tom Rogers said the ACT redistribution was required due to the extra seat.
“Under the proposal, the ACT would be broadly divided into northern, central and southern electoral divisions,” Mr Rogers said.
He said “Canberra” and “Fenner” would be retained as ACT division names, with “Bean” the name of the third ACT electoral division, in recognition of the war historian Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean.
Mr Rogers said that under the proposal, ‘Fenner’ would cover the entirety of Gungahlin, Hall, most of Belconnen and Jervis Bay with ‘Canberra’ centred on Lake Burley Griffin, including the city and other areas immediately adjacent to the lake, and include inner Belconnen suburbs through to Giralang in the north and Hawker in the north west.
He said ‘Bean’ would cover the southern part of the Territory, including Tuggeranong, Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek and part of Woden Valley, and Norfolk Island.
Mr Rogers said the Redistribution Committee was faced with a situation where the northern part of the ACT was experiencing higher population growth than the south.
“With the increase to three Federal electoral divisions, the northern localities of Gungahlin and Belconnen can no longer be fully contained in a single Federal electoral division,” he said.
The Commissioner said the consultative nature of the redistribution process continued, with individuals and organisations now able to lodge objections to the proposed divisions by 4 May.
The AEC’s 86-page plan for the redistribution can be accessed at this PS News link and written comments can be lodged at [email protected].
