Executive summary

This report outlines the augmented Electoral Commission for New South Wales’ (the augmented Electoral Commission’s) redistribution of New South Wales into 47 electoral divisions.

The augmented Electoral Commission has adopted all of the boundaries of electoral divisions proposed by the Redistribution Committee for New South Wales (Redistribution Committee) with the following modifications:

• all of the former Yallaroi Shire, and a small part of the former Bingara Shire, both now within the Gwydir Shire, are now located in the Division of Parkes.
• the entirety of the Carrathool Shire is now located in the Division of Farrer
• the Lockhart Shire is now located in the Division of Riverina
• Bundanoon, Exeter, Meryla, Penrose, part of Werai and Wingello are now located in the Division of Hume
• the entire locality of Paddington is now located in the Division of Wentworth
• Darlinghurst (except for the area bounded by South Dowling, Oxford and Flinders Streets) and Potts Point are now located in the Division of Sydney
• that part of Moore Park to the north of Dacey Avenue is now located in the Division of Wentworth
• the entirety of the Drummoyne Peninsula is now located in the Division of Reid
• parts of Canterbury, Hurlstone Park, Dulwich Hill and Marrickville (to the north of the Sydenham Bankstown railway line) are now located in the Division of Grayndler
• the locality of Sydenham is now located in the Division of Grayndler
• part of Beverly Hills (east of King Georges Road and south of the M5 East Motorway), part of Hurstville (north of the Illawarra railway line) and part of Kingsgrove (west of Kingsgrove Road and south of the M5 East Motorway) are now located in the Division of Barton
• the area bounded by the Princes Highway, Jubilee Avenue, the Illawarra railway line, Andover and Francis Streets at Carlton is now located in the Division of Banks
• part of Auburn (to the south of the M4 Western Motorway and to the west of St Hilliers Road) and part of Lidcombe (to the west of Olympic Drive) are now located in the Division of Blaxland
• the area bounded by King and Smithfield Roads and Prospect and Orphan School Creeks at Fairfield and Fairfield West is now located in the Division of McMahon
• the localities of Edensor Park (to Smithfield Road), Bossley Park (except the area to the east of Mimosa Road and to the north of Polding Street), Prairiewood (to King Road), Greenfield Park (to Smithfield Road) and the built-up area of Abbotsbury are now located in the Division of Fowler
• parts of Badgerys Creek and Kemps Creek south of Elizabeth Drive, that part of Bringelly to the east of The Northern Road and north of Bringelly Road, and that part of Rossmore to the north of Bringelly Road are now located in the Division of Werriwa
• those parts of East Hills, Panania, Revesby and Padstow between the South Western Motorway and the East Hills railway line are now located in the Division of Banks,
• some minor changes to the boundary between the Divisions of Berowra and Mitchell which involve no elector movement, and
• some minor changes to the boundary between the Divisions of Grayndler and Sydney which involve no elector movement.

The augmented Electoral Commission has adopted all other elements of the Redistribution Committee’s proposed redistribution.

The Division of Throsby has been renamed the ‘Division of Whitlam’, in honour of the former Prime Minister, the Hon. Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (1916–2014). While the Division of Hunter has been abolished, the name has been retained and the name of ‘Charlton’ has been withdrawn. The names of the remaining 45 electoral divisions have been retained.

Background

A redistribution of electoral divisions is the process where electoral divisions and their boundaries and names are reviewed, and may be altered, to ensure, as near as practicable:

• each state and territory gains representation in the House of Representatives in proportion to its population, and
• there are a similar number of electors in each electoral division for a given state or territory.

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act) provides for when a redistribution is to be conducted and the processes and timelines to be followed in doing so, including how and when public consultation is to occur.

A redistribution of electoral divisions in New South Wales was required as the number of members of the House of Representatives that is to be chosen for New South Wales at the next general election has decreased from 48 to 47.

The redistribution process commenced with a direction from the Electoral Commission on Monday 1 December 2014.

The Redistribution Committee released its proposed redistribution on Friday 16 October 2015. Interested individuals and parties were invited to make written objections on the proposed redistribution and written comments on objections via notices published in:

• the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette (the Gazette) on Friday 16 October 2015,
• The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph and The Weekend Australian on Saturday 17 October 2015,
• The Land on Thursday 22 October 2015, and
• 23 regional newspapers.

Seven hundred and ninety-one objections were made available for public perusal on Monday 16 November 2015 and 26 written comments on objections were made available from Monday 30 November 2015. Two inquiries into objections were held:

• 30 oral submissions were made at the inquiry held in Sydney on Wednesday 16 December 2015, and
• 18 oral submissions were made at the inquiry held in Port Macquarie on Friday 18 December November 2015.

The augmented Electoral Commission found the written submissions made throughout the redistribution process, together with the submissions presented by those participating in the inquiries, to be a valuable contribution and is appreciative of the time and effort expended by all those who contributed. The redistribution has been informed by a thorough consideration of these submissions, and complies with all relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.

Redistribution of New South Wales

The redistribution covers:

• which electoral division to abolish,
• where to draw the boundaries between electoral divisions in New South Wales to accommodate the abolition of an electoral division, and
• the names of electoral divisions.

Boundaries of electoral divisions

In determining the boundaries of electoral divisions in a state, the Electoral Act requires the augmented Electoral Commission to ensure that the enrolment numbers for each electoral division remain within the two ranges of the permissible maximum and minimum number of electors in an electoral division.

At the end of Monday 1 December 2014, the day on which the redistribution commenced, 4 863 593 electors were enrolled in New South Wales. The current enrolment quota was therefore 103 481. As the Electoral Act requires proposed electoral divisions to be within plus or minus 10 per cent of this quota, the augmented Electoral Commission was required to construct electoral divisions which contain between 93 132 and 113 829 electors.

The augmented Electoral Commission is also required to ensure that the number of electors in each proposed electoral division will be within 3.5 per cent of the projected enrolment quota at the projection time of Sunday 25 August 2019. As the number of electors projected to be enrolled in New South Wales at this time is 5 195 490 and the projected enrolment quota is 110 542, the augmented Electoral Commission was required to construct electoral divisions which are projected to contain between 106 673 and 114 411 electors on Sunday 25 August 2019.

Abolishing an electoral division will, of necessity, result in significant elector movement away from the abolished electoral division and will also require consequential boundary changes and elector movements across the state to ensure that all electoral divisions remain within the two permissible ranges. The augmented Electoral Commission noted that the Redistribution Committee’s proposal met the requirements of the Electoral Act, and to the extent possible, provided electoral divisions that accommodated future growth while recognising and maintaining many communities of interest and using strong boundaries.

After careful consideration of the Redistribution Committee’s proposed redistribution, the objections and comments on objections received and further information provided in oral submissions at the inquiries, the augmented Electoral Commission adopted the Redistribution Committee’s proposal with some minor changes. These better reflect some communities of interest, to the extent possible, while complying with the mandatory numerical requirements of the Electoral Act regarding the size of electoral divisions.

Electoral division to be abolished

The augmented Electoral Commission has adopted the Redistribution Committee’s proposal to abolish the Division of Hunter.

Adjusting the boundaries of existing electoral divisions

The augmented Electoral Commission agreed with much of what was proposed by the Redistribution Committee but found some areas where improvements could be made.

As a number of the changes advocated in objections to the proposed redistribution, comments on objections and submissions to the inquiries were able to be accommodated within the permissible ranges for the number of electors within an electoral division, or with minimal boundary adjustments to the surrounding electoral divisions, the augmented Electoral Commission made these changes. As a result, 18 divisions of the augmented Electoral Commission’s redistribution differ from that proposed by the Redistribution Committee.

While acknowledging the merits of a number of other ideas advocated in objections, comments on objections and submissions to the inquiries, they were unable to be accepted because the resultant adjustments to the boundaries would have created electoral divisions which fell outside the numerical ranges permitted by the Electoral Act. In the augmented Electoral Commission’s opinion, any alternative adjustments would have caused significant flow-on effects for other electoral divisions across New South Wales in order to meet the requirements of the Electoral Act.

Naming of electoral divisions

The Redistribution Committee proposed:

• renaming the Division of Throsby as the Division of Whitlam, in recognition of the former Prime Minister, the Hon. Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (1916–2014),
• renaming the existing Division of Charlton as the Division of Hunter, which will enable the retention of an electoral division name which was first used in 1901, and
• retaining the existing names of the remaining 45 electoral divisions.

A number of objections to the proposed redistribution concerned the Redistribution Committee’s proposal to rename the Division of Throsby and argued for a different electoral division to be named after the former Prime Minister.

The ‘Guidelines for naming federal electoral divisions’ note that consideration should be given to naming electoral divisions after former Prime Ministers. The augmented Electoral Commission agreed the arguments against renaming the proposed Division of Whitlam were not substantive enough to warrant change from the Redistribution Committee’s proposal and the electoral division will be known as the Division of Whitlam.

A number of objections to the proposed redistribution and comments on objections advocated renaming other electoral divisions.

The augmented Electoral Commission unanimously agreed the arguments offered in support of altering the names of other electoral divisions were not substantive enough to warrant change from the Redistribution Committee’s proposal and the electoral divisions will be known as the names proposed by the Redistribution Committee.

The augmented Electoral Commission’s electoral division names have been offered for the reasons set out in Chapter 2 of this report.

Elector movements

Overall, 919 914 electors enrolled in New South Wales (or 18.91 per cent of all electors enrolled in New South Wales on Monday 1 December 2014) will change their federal electoral division as a result of this redistribution. Electors from the former Division of Throsby who have been retained in the renamed Division of Whitlam are not included in these numbers.