Appendices

Appendix A: Summary of compliance with legislative requirements

Appendix B: Calculating the representation entitlements of the Northern Territory

Division 3 of Part III of the Electoral Act specifies the legislative requirements to be followed in determining the representation of each state and territory in the House of Representatives.

The Electoral Commissioner is required to follow this process once a House of Representatives has met continuously for a period of 12 months after the day of its first meeting.⁵⁸ This process was most recently undertaken in November 2014.⁵⁹

The Electoral Commissioner is first required to ascertain the number of people of:

• the Commonwealth,
• each of the States,
• the Australian Capital Territory,
• the Northern Territory,
• the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands,
• the Territory of Christmas Island, and
• each of the other Territories.⁶⁰

This ascertainment is to be made using statistics supplied by the Australian Statistician which have most recently before the reference day been compiled and published in a regular series under the Census and Statistics Act 1905.^{61 62}

The populations ascertained by the then acting Electoral Commissioner are displayed in Table I.

a. Pursuant to section 45 of the Electoral Act, the number of the people of the Commonwealth does not include the people of the Territories.

b. Pursuant to section 38A of the Electoral Act, the Territory of Norfolk Island is not taken to be a Territory for the purposes of this ascertainment.

c. Pursuant to section 4(1) of the Electoral Act, the Jervis Bay Territory is taken to be part of the Australian Capital Territory for the purposes of this ascertainment.

d. Pursuant to section 46(2) of the Electoral Act, a Norfolk Island resident who is enrolled in a Territory under section 95AA(3) of the Electoral Act is included in the count of the population of that Territory for the purposes of this ascertainment.

To determine the number of members of the House of Representatives each state and territory is entitled to, the Electoral Commissioner is required to calculate the population quota using the following formula:⁶³

Table J shows the figures used to calculate the population quota.

Under section 56A of the Electoral Act, until such time as the the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands or the Territory of Christmas Island is entitled to a member of the House of Representatives, each Territory is to be included in the same electoral division in the Northern Territory. Table K shows the figures used to calculate the number of members of the House of Representatives the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island are entitled to.

a. Paragraph 48(2A)(c) of the Electoral Act species that in calculating the number of members of the House of Representatives to chosen for a Territory, when the result of dividing the ascertained population by the population quota is a remainder that is greater than one-half of a quota, that number is increased by one.

As the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island are not entitled to members of the House of Representatives, sub-section 48(2C) of the Electoral Act provides for the following to occur:

• the ascertainment of the population of the Northern Territory is deemed to have never been made,
• the number of the people of the Northern Territory will be ascertained, including the number of the people of the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island, and
• the Electoral Commissioner will use the newly ascertained number of people of the Northern Territory to determine the number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen in the Northern Territory at a general election.

Table L shows the figures used to determine the population of the Northern Territory.

Table M shows the figures used to calculate the number of members of the House of Representatives the Northern Territory is entitled to.

a. Paragraph 48(2A)(c) of the Electoral Act species that in calculating the number of members of the House of Representatives to chosen for a Territory, when the result of dividing the ascertained population by the population quota is a remainder that is greater than one-half of a quota, that number is increased by one.

Appendix C: Operation of statutory requirements for the making of a proposed redistribution

Section 66 of the Electoral Act requires the Redistribution Committee to abide by the following requirements:

• make a proposed redistribution of the Northern Territory,
• the number of electoral divisions the Northern Territory is to be divided into equal 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:
  3. In making the proposed redistribution, the Redistribution Committee:
     1. shall, as far as practicable, endeavour to ensure that, if the State or Territory were redistributed in accordance with the proposed redistribution, the number of electors enrolled in each Electoral Division in the State or Territory would 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
     2. subject to paragraph (a), shall give due consideration, in relation to each proposed Electoral Division, to:
        1. community of interests within the proposed Electoral Division, including economic, social and regional interests;
        2. means of communication and travel within the proposed Electoral Division;
        4. the physical features and area of the proposed 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 proposed redistribution, and the Redistribution Committee 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.
  3. (A) When applying subsection (3), the Redistribution Committee must treat the matter in subparagraph (3)(b)(v) as subordinate to the matters in subparagraphs (3)(b)(i), (ii) and (iv).

These statutory requirements are expressed in a hierarchical order.

The purpose of paragraph 3(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'.⁶⁴ 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 sub-sections 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 percent ⁶⁵.

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 3(a) follows this recommendation. The terms of the recommendation, and the discussion which preceded it, make clear the purpose of paragraph 3(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 Redistribution Committee has considered the suggestions and comments and made its proposed redistribution on this basis.

In summary, the primary criteria are to:

• endeavour to ensure that the number of electors in the proposed 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 Redistribution Committee also considers the boundaries of existing electoral divisions; however this criterion is subordinate to the others.

Appendix D: Suggestions for the Northern Territory redistribution

Six written suggestions were received.

Appendix E: Comments on suggestions for the Northern Territory redistribution

One written comment on suggestions was received.

Appendix F: Redistribution Committee response to themes contained in suggestions and comments on suggestions

S = suggestion received and CS = comment on suggestion received (refer to Appendix D and Appendix E for full list)

Appendix G: Constructing proposed electoral boundaries

The AEC maintains the electoral roll on the basis of alignment to SA1s, and is able to provide data on enrolments and projected enrolments at this level. Accordingly, in formulating its proposals, the Redistribution Committee used SA1s as its basic building blocks. The SA1s have defined boundaries and are of differing sizes and shapes. In cases where the Redistribution Committee 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 Redistribution Committee 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: 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 I: Timetable for the remainder of the redistribution of the Northern Territory

1. A public inquiry, if required, would be held in November 2016.

Appendix J: General description of how proposed electoral divisions are constituted

The following tables show how each proposed electoral division has been constructed from existing electoral divisions. The unit to display this construction is SA2s. Each SA2 comprises a number of SA1s.

Proposed electoral divisions are displayed in alphabetical order.