Appendices

Appendix A: Summary of compliance with legislative requirements

Appendix B: Operation of statutory requirements for the making of a redistribution

Section 73 of the Electoral Act requires the augmented Electoral Commission to abide by the following requirements:

• make a determination of the names and boundaries of the electoral divisions of the Northern Territory by a notice published in the Gazette,
• ensure the number of electoral divisions the Northern Territory is divided into equals the number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen in the Northern Territory at a general election, and
• abide by the following requirements:

  (4) In making the determination, the augmented Electoral Commission:

  (a) shall, as far as practicable, endeavour to ensure that the number of electors enrolled in each Electoral Division in the State or Territory will not, at the projection time determined under section 63A, be less than 96.5% or more than 103.5% of the average divisional enrolment of that State or Territory at that time; and

  (b) subject to paragraph (a), shall give due consideration, in relation to each Electoral Division, to:

  1. community of interests within the Electoral Division, including economic, social and regional interests;
  2. means of communication and travel within the Electoral Division;
  4. the physical features and area of the Electoral Division; and
  5. the boundaries of existing Divisions in the State or Territory;

     and subject thereto the quota of electors for the State or Territory shall be the basis for the redistribution, and the augmented Electoral Commission may adopt a margin of allowance, to be used whenever necessary, but in no case shall the quota be departed from to a greater extent than one-tenth more or one-tenth less.

  (4A) When applying subsection (4), the augmented Electoral Commission must treat the matter in subparagraph (4)(b)(v) as subordinate to the matters in subparagraphs (4)(b)(i), (ii) and (iv).

  These statutory requirements are expressed in a hierarchical order.

  The purpose of paragraph 4(a) is suggested by its history. It has undergone some transformation since the Commonwealth Electoral Legislation Amendment Act 1983 stipulated that boundaries were to be drawn, as far as practicable, to achieve equal numbers of electors in each of a state’s electoral divisions three-and-a-half years after a redistribution. By 1984 ‘it was observed that the three-and-a-half year rule had in some areas forced the adoption, on purely numerical grounds, of boundaries which took little account of perceived community of interest’.⁴³ Therefore, in 1987, the rule was relaxed to permit a measure of tolerance to plus or minus two percent from average projected enrolment. Subsequently, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters concluded that:

  the numerical criteria do not allow “due consideration”, in the words of the Act, to be given to the qualitative factors. Rather, the political parties and others attempting to frame electoral boundaries essentially find themselves engaged in a mathematical modelling exercise. In order to relax the enrolment requirements to that extent necessary to allow a realistic degree of flexibility the Committee recommends … that subsections 66(3)(a) and 73(4)(a) of the Electoral Act be amended, so as to extend the variation from average divisional enrolment allowed three-and-a-half years after a redistribution from two to 3.5 per cent.⁴⁴

  The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters also, in the same report, refers to its recommended amendment as one that ‘would maintain substantial restrictions on malapportionment [and] would allow other legitimate policy objectives to be more effectively met’.

  Paragraph 4(a) follows this recommendation. The terms of the recommendation, and the discussion which preceded it, make clear the purpose of paragraph 4(a), as it now stands, and how it was intended to interact with the other criteria set out in the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (b), to which also ‘due consideration’ must be given. The augmented Electoral Commission has considered the objections, comment on objections and submissions to the inquiry and made its redistribution on this basis.

  In summary, the primary criteria are to:

  • endeavour to ensure that the number of electors in the electoral divisions are within a range of 3.5 per cent below or above the projected enrolment quota at the projection time, and
  • ensure that current enrolments are within 10 per cent below or above the current enrolment quota.

  The secondary criteria are community of interests, means of communication and travel, and physical features and area. The augmented Electoral Commission also considers the boundaries of existing electoral divisions; however this criterion is subordinate to the others.

  Appendix C: Objections to the proposed redistribution of the Northern Territory

  Four written objections were received.

  No.	Submitted by	Topics referred to	Divisions referred to
  OB1	Lorraine Gardner	Division boundaries	Lingiari and Solomon
  OB2	Jeff Waddell	Division boundaries	Lingiari and Solomon
  OB3	Darren McSweeney	Division boundaries	Lingiari and Solomon
  OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	Division names and division boundaries	Lingiari and Solomon

  Appendix D: Comments on objections to the proposed redistribution of the Northern Territory

  One written comment on objections was received.

  No.	Submitted by	Topics referred to	Divisions referred to	Objections referred to in comment
  COB1	Darren McSweeney	Division boundaries	Lingiari and Solomon	OB1
  				OB2
  				OB4

  Appendix E: Augmented Electoral Commission’s response to themes contained in objections, comments on objections and in submissions to the inquiry into objections

  Objections and comments on objections recommend…	Submission		The augmented Electoral Commission has concluded…
  	No.	Submitted by
  the names of both electoral divisions in the Northern Territory should be retained	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	the electoral divisions will be known as the Division of Lingiari and the Division of Solomon, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  Wagait Shire should be located in the Division of Solomon	OB1	Lorraine Gardner	to retain the Wagait Shire in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  	I1	Lorraine Gardner
  Wagait Shire should not be located in the Division of Solomon but should remain in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee	COB1	Darren McSweeney	to retain the Wagait Shire in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  	I2	Jeff Waddell
  the boundary proposed by the Redistribution Committee should be adopted	OB2	Jeff Waddell	to adopt the boundaries as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  	OB3	Darren McSweeney
  	COB1	Darren McSweeney
  the boundary between the two electoral divisions not be altered	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	the boundary between the two electoral divisions be altered, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  the Palmerston suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and Yarrawonga should be included in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee	OB3	Darren McSweeney	to retain the Palmerston suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and Yarrawonga in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  	COB1	Darren McSweeney
  Palmerston suburbs should not be located in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee, but should remain in the Division of Solomon	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	to retain the Palmerston suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and Yarrawonga in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  the suburb of Gunn should remain in the Division of Solomon, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee	OB3	Darren McSweeney	to retain the suburb of Gunn in the Division of Solomon, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  in the area of the suburb of Zuccoli, the boundary should follow the creek bed south of Lambrick Avenue	OB3	Darren McSweeney	the boundary between the two divisions at this point will remain as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  the entirety of the Litchfield Municipality should be included in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	to retain the Litchfield Municipality in the Division of Lingiari, as proposed by the Redistribution Committee
  	COB1	Darren McSweeney
  	I2	Jeff Waddell
  regard should be given to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly divisional boundaries in order to ensure that Legislative Assembly divisions are not split across multiple federal electoral divisions	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	while Legislative Assembly divisions could be used to identify communities of interest, this factor is a secondary consideration under the requirements of the Electoral Act
  regard should not be given to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly divisional boundaries in determining federal electoral divisions	COB1	Darren McSweeney	while Legislative Assembly divisions could be used to identify communities of interest, this factor is a secondary consideration under the requirements of the Electoral Act
  	I2	Jeff Waddell
  the enrolment projections should be adjusted to account for under-enrolment in the Division of Lingiari when the redistribution commenced	OB4	Australian Labor Party NT Branch	the enrolment projections provided when the suggestions period opened will remain unadjusted
  the enrolment projections should not be adjusted	COB1	Darren McSweeney	the enrolment projections provided when the suggestions period opened will remain unadjusted

  OB = objection received, COB = comment on objection received and I = inquiry participant (refer to Appendix C, Appendix D or Appendix F, for full list)

  Appendix F: Inquiry into objections

  Two submissions were made at the inquiry held by the augmented Electoral Commission in Darwin on Tuesday 22 November 2016.

  No.	Participant
  I1	Lorraine Gardner
  I2	Jeff Waddell

  Appendix G: Constructing electoral boundaries

  The AEC maintains the electoral roll on the basis of alignment to Statistical Area 1s (SA1s),⁴⁵ and is able to provide data on enrolments and projected enrolments at this level. Accordingly, in formulating its proposals, the augmented Electoral Commission used SA1s as its basic building blocks. The SA1s have defined boundaries and are of differing sizes and shapes. In cases where the augmented Electoral Commission considered that a particular SA1 boundary was inappropriate for use as an electoral division boundary, the SA1 was split to provide a more meaningful boundary.

  The indicative area of electoral divisions in the Northern Territory has been calculated by aggregating the area of:

  • all land-based SA1s;
  • any parts of land-based SA1s; and
  • any lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, wetlands or marshes not already included in land-based SA1s, that are contained within the divisional boundary of each electoral division.

  Areas are calculated on the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA94) spheroid using the AEC's Electoral Boundary Mapping System (EBMS), developed within the 'MapInfo Professional' software package.

  The augmented Electoral Commission used EBMS as an aid to modelling various boundary options. This system was also made available for public use at the office of the Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory in Darwin.

  Appendix H: Announcement of the augmented Electoral Commission's proposed redistribution

  The text of the augmented Electoral Commission's public announcement of their proposed redistribution, issued on Wednesday 7 December 2016, is reproduced below.

  Augmented Electoral Commission decides names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory

  The augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory today announced the outcome of its deliberations on the names and boundaries of the two federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory.

  The Hon. Dennis Cowdroy OAM QC, the presiding member, thanked the individuals and organisations who contributed to the redistribution of the Northern Territory by providing written submissions throughout the redistribution process, and who participated in the inquiry on Tuesday 22 November 2016. All objections, comments on objections and submissions to the inquiry were carefully considered by the augmented Electoral Commission.

  ‘After a thorough consideration of these contributions, the augmented Electoral Commission has adopted the redistribution proposed by the Redistribution Committee for the Northern Territory without change,’ Mr Cowdroy said.

  The full proposal was detailed in the Redistribution Committee’s report of Friday 9 September 2016: Proposed redistribution of the Northern Territory into electoral divisions.

  This will see:

  • the entirety of the Litchfield Municipality located in the proposed Division of Lingiari
    • This will involve the transfer of the suburbs of Holtze, Knuckey Lagoon, Micket Creek and part of Shoal Bay from the Division of Solomon to the proposed Division of Lingiari.
  • parts of the Palmerston Municipality located in the proposed Division of Lingiari
    • This will involve the transfer of the suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and part of Yarrawonga from the Division of Solomon to the proposed Division of Lingiari.

  The augmented Electoral Commission have therefore proposed that:

  • the proposed Division of Lingiari will consist of:
    • the Alice Springs Municipality, Barkly Shire, Belyuen Community Council, Central Desert Shire, Coomalie Community Government Council, East Arnhem Shire, Katherine Municipality, Litchfield Municipality, MacDonnell Shire, Roper Gulf Shire, Victoria Daly Shire, Wagait Shire, West Arnhem Shire and West Daly Region,
    • the towns of Alyangula, Nhulunbuy and Yulara,
    • the unincorporated areas north and east of Litchfield Municipality, south-east of Coomalie Shire, and west of Litchfield and Palmerston Municipality,
    • part of the Palmerston Municipality, specifically the suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Yarrawonga and Zuccoli,
    • Tiwi Islands,
    • Groote Eylandt,
    • the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and
    • the Territory of Christmas Island.
  • the proposed Division of Solomon will consist of:
    • the Darwin Municipality,
    • the Palmerston Municipality, with the exception of the suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Yarrawonga and Zuccoli, and
    • the unincorporated areas of the Darwin Rates Act Area and East Arm.

  A full overview of the augmented Electoral Commission's conclusions on objections to the Redistribution Committee's proposed redistribution is available.

  The augmented Electoral Commission notes this proposal is not significantly different from the proposal of the Redistribution Committee and therefore no further input from members of the public will be sought.

  The names and boundaries of the federal electoral divisions for the Northern Territory will apply from Tuesday 7 February 2017 when a notice of determination is published in the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette. Electoral events will not be contested on these new federal electoral divisions until a writ is issued for a general election following the expiry or dissolution of the House of Representatives.

  Overview maps will be available on the AEC website on Tuesday 7 February 2017. Detailed maps and a report outlining the augmented Electoral Commission’s reasons for its formal determination will be tabled in the Federal Parliament and will subsequently be made publicly available.

  More information about the Northern Territory federal redistribution is available on the AEC website.

  Editor's notes:

  A Redistribution Committee is appointed for the state or territory in which a redistribution has commenced.

  The Redistribution Committee for the Northern Territory consisted of:

  • the Electoral Commissioner,
  • the Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory,
  • the Surveyor-General of the Northern Territory, and
  • the Auditor-General for the Northern Territory.

  The Redistribution Committee is responsible for considering inputs from the public and making a proposed redistribution.

  The augmented Electoral Commission considers any objections to a proposed redistribution and makes a final determination of the names and boundaries of the redistributed divisions. The augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory consists of:

  • the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission,
  • the non-judicial member of the Electoral Commission, currently the Australian Statistician,
  • the Electoral Commissioner,
  • the Australian Electoral Officer for the Northern Territory,
  • the Surveyor-General of the Northern Territory, and
  • the Auditor-General for the Northern Territory.

  Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island

  Under section 56A of the Electoral Act, until such time as the Territory of the Christmas Islands or the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Island is entitled to a member of the House of Representatives, each Territory is to be included in an electoral division in the Northern Territory.

  As part of a determination on Thursday 13 November 2014 of the number of members of the House of Representatives to which each state and territory will be entitled at the next federal general election, it was determined that:

  • the Territory of Christmas Island was not entitled to a member of the House of Representatives, and
  • the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Island was not entitled to a member of the House of Representatives.

  Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island will therefore need to be located in the same electoral division in the Northern Territory, namely the proposed Division of Lingiari.

  Appendix I: Determination of electoral divisions in the Northern Territory by the augmented Electoral Commission

  The text of the augmented Electoral Commission's determination of electoral divisions in the Northern Territory, published in the Gazette on Tuesday 7 February 2017, is reproduced below.

  Determination of names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory

  As determined by the then acting Electoral Commissioner on Thursday 13 November 2014, the Northern Territory is entitled to two members of the House of Representatives.

  Pursuant to sub-section 73(1) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act), the augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory has determined the names of the two electoral divisions are:

  • Lingiari
  • Solomon

  Pursuant to sub-section 73(1) of the Electoral Act, the augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory has determined that the boundaries of these electoral divisions are as shown on the maps displayed on the Australian Electoral Commission website at www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions and lodged in file number 16/961 at the National Office of the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra.

  The augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory has made decisions in accordance with the requirements of section 56A and sub-sections 73(3), 73(4) and 73(4A) of the Electoral Act.

  Subject to the provisions of the Electoral Act, the electoral divisions determined by this notice will apply from Tuesday 7 February 2017 until the next determination of names and boundaries of electoral divisions in the Northern Territory is published in the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette pursuant to sub-section 73(1) or sub-section 76(6) of the Electoral Act.

  The Hon. Dennis Cowdroy OAM QC
  Chairperson
  Augmented Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory

  Appendix J: Guidelines for naming federal electoral divisions

  Determining the names of federal electoral divisions is part of the process of conducting a federal redistribution within a state or territory.

  The criteria used by redistribution committees to propose the names of electoral divisions, and used by augmented electoral commissions to determine the names of electoral divisions, have previously been the subject of recommendations from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. From these recommendations, a set of guidelines were developed as a point of reference only.

  It should be noted that redistribution committees and augmented electoral commissions are in no way bound by the guidelines.

  Naming after persons

  In the main, electoral divisions should be named after deceased Australians who have rendered outstanding service to their country.

  When new electoral divisions are created the names of former Prime Ministers should be considered.

  Federation Divisional names

  Every effort should be made to retain the names of original federation electoral divisions.

  Geographical names

  Locality or place names should generally be avoided, but in certain areas the use of geographical features may be appropriate (e.g. Perth).

  Aboriginal names

  Aboriginal names should be used where appropriate and as far as possible existing Aboriginal divisional names should be retained.

  Other criteria

  The names of Commonwealth electoral divisions should not duplicate existing state districts.

  Qualifying names may be used where appropriate (e.g. Melbourne Ports, Port Adelaide).

  Names of electoral divisions should not be changed or transferred to new areas without very strong reasons.

  When two or more electoral divisions are partially combined, as far as possible the name of the new electoral division should be that of the old electoral division which had the greatest number of electors within the new boundaries. However, where the socio-demographic nature of the electoral division in question has changed significantly, this should override the numerical formula.

  Appendix K: General description of how electoral divisions are constituted

  The following tables show how each electoral division has been constructed. The unit to display this construction is Statistical Area 2s (SA2s).⁴⁶ Each SA2 comprises a number of SA1s. The SA1s and SA2s which applied at the 2011 Census of Population and Housing have been used.

  Electoral divisions are displayed in alphabetical order.

  Division of Lingiari

  Division make up	Enrolment as at Thursday 15 October 2015	Projected enrolment as at Friday 7 August 2020
  Electors retained from the former Division of Lingiari
  Alligator	2 226	2 387
  Anindilyakwa	1 299	1 432
  Barkly	1 622	1 789
  Charles	2 237	2 382
  Christmas Island	576	612
  Cocos (Keeling) Islands	383	400
  Daly	1 039	1 119
  East Arnhem	4 962	5 451
  East Side	2 761	2 905
  Elsey	1 351	1 436
  Flynn (NT)	2 106	2 242
  Gulf	2 503	2 741
  Howard Springs	2 072	2 224
  Humpty Doo	4 683	5 139
  Katherine	4 984	5 405
  Koolpinyah	6	6
  Larapinta	2 493	2 704
  Mount Johns	1 802	1 876
  Nhulunbuy	1 226	1 328
  Petermann – Simpson	1 205	1 274
  Ross	1 356	1 367
  Sandover – Plenty	2 347	2 575
  Tanami	1 872	2 050
  Tennant Creek	1 726	1 794
  Thamarrurr	1 360	1 518
  Tiwi Islands	1 621	1 807
  Victoria River	1 542	1 744
  Virginia	1 767	1 924
  Weddell	2 069	2 298
  West Arnhem	3 063	3 374
  Yuendumu – Anmatjere	1 613	1 721
  Total electors retained from the former Division of Lingiari	61 872	67 024
  Electors transferred from another electoral division into the Division of Lingiari
  Electors transferred from the former Division of Solomon
  Berrimah	295	283
  Howard Springs	645	672
  Koolpinyah	4	4
  Palmerston – North	908	995
  Palmerston – South	828	936
  Total transferred from the former Division of Solomon	2 680	2 890
  Total electors transferred from another electoral division into the Division of Lingiari	2 680	2 890
  Total for the Division of Lingiari	64 552	69 914

  Division of Solomon

  Division make up	Enrolment as at Thursday 15 October 2015	Projected enrolment as at Friday 7 August 2020
  Electors retained from the former Division of Solomon
  Alawa	1 385	1 539
  Anula	1 624	1 783
  Bakewell	1 968	2 196
  Berrimah	343	162
  Brinkin – Nakara	1 882	2 080
  Buffalo Creek	18	18
  Charles Darwin	5	5
  Coconut Grove	1 817	1 951
  Darwin Airport	16	13
  Darwin City	2 541	2 708
  Driver	1 845	2 121
  Durack – Marlow Lagoon	2 472	2 772
  East Arm	16	16
  East Point	0	0
  Fannie Bay – The Gardens	2 286	2 468
  Gray	2 030	2 253
  Jingili	1 129	1 245
  Karama	3 133	3 483
  Larrakeyah	2 232	2 431
  Leanyer	3 190	3 551
  Ludmilla – The Narrows	1 668	1 880
  Lyons (NT)	1 963	2 166
  Malak – Marrara	3 047	3 328
  Millner	1 614	1 756
  Moil	1 314	1 445
  Moulden	1 881	2 152
  Nightcliff	2 471	2 709
  Palmerston – North	1 636	1 888
  Palmerston – South	4	4
  Parap	1 692	1 825
  Rapid Creek	2 120	2 335
  Rosebery – Bellamack	3 507	3 853
  Stuart Park	2 583	2 817
  Tiwi	1 538	1 610
  Wagaman	1 304	1 436
  Wanguri	1 253	1 370
  Woodroffe	2 044	2 277
  Woolner – Bayview – Winnellie	1 907	2 116
  Wulagi	1 541	1 700
  Total electors retained from the former Division of Solomon	65 019	71 462
  Total for Division of Solomon	65 019	71 462
  Electors transferred from the former Division of Solomon to another electoral division
  Electors transferred to Division of Lingiari
  Berrimah	295	283
  Howard Springs	645	672
  Koolpinyah	4	4
  Palmerston – North	908	995
  Palmerston – South	828	936
  Total transferred to Division of Lingiari	2 680	2 890
  Total electors transferred from the former Division of Solomon to another electoral division	2 680	2 890