THE exact shape of the new five electorates, each with five seats will determine the future of politics in the Australian Capital Territory.

ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green says public consultation on those new electorates will kick off next week.

“The public consultation process for the redistribution of the ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries will officially commence on Thursday 6 November with a call for public submissions,” Mr Green said.

The ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries are to be redrawn in preparation for the 15 October 2016 election.

“The ACT Redistribution Committee met for the first time today,” Mr Green said.

The Redistribution Committee consists of the Electoral Commissioner, Phillip Green; the ACT Planning and Land Authority, Dorte Ekelund; the ACT Surveyor-General, Bill Hirst; and the ACT Regional Director, ACT Regional Office, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cassandra Gligora.

“As the number of electorates is to be increased, the Redistribution Committee is particularly interested in receiving suggestions for names for the electorates,” Mr Green said. “While the existing 3 electorate names may be retained, the Redistribution Committee is able to consider suggestions for new names for some or all of the existing electorates, as well as names for the additional two electorates.”

Any interested persons or organisations will have until 4 December 2014 to make suggestions to the Redistribution Committee. Those suggestions will then be made available for public comment from 5 December 2014 until 19 December 2014.

After considering the public submissions, the Redistribution Committee will publish a proposed redistribution of the ACT into five electorates in early 2015. People will then have 28 days in which to object to the proposed boundaries.

One key requirement for the redistribution will be ensuring that electoral enrolments in each electorate will be within +/- 5% of the quota at the time of the next election. The quota for each electorate is 1/5 of the ACT total enrolment.

When redrawing the electoral boundaries, the Redistribution Committee is also required to take account of the community of interests, including economic, social and regional interests; means of communication and travel; the physical features and area of each proposed electorate; the boundaries of existing electorates; and the boundaries of suburban divisions and sections.

Complete electoral enrolment statistics and further detailed information will be available from the ACT Electoral Commission’s website from 5 November 2014.