THE ACT Redistribution Committee has announced its proposed redistribution of the ACT into 5 electorates.

“The Committee has proposed that the ACT be divided into electorates named Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi,” ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green said.

The ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries are being redrawn in preparation for the 15 October 2016 election. For the first time, the ACT is being divided into 5 electorates each returning 5 Members to the Legislative Assembly, with the total number of Members increasing from 17 to 25 at the 2016 election.

A copy of the map of the proposed electorates is available at elections.act.gov.au.

The Redistribution Committee has proposed that the 5 electorates for the ACT Legislative Assembly be as follows:

• Brindabella, comprising the district of Tuggeranong (excluding the suburb of Kambah) and the districts of Booth, Cotter River, Paddys River, Rendezvous Creek, Tennent and Mount Clear;
• Ginninderra, comprising the district of Belconnen (excluding the suburbs of Evatt, Giralang, Kaleen, Lawson and McKellar);
• Kurrajong, comprising the districts of Canberra Central, Jerrabomberra, Kowen and Majura;
• Murrumbidgee, comprising the districts of Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek, Woden Valley, Coree and Stromlo, and the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah; and
• Yerrabi, comprising the districts of Gungahlin and Hall, and the Belconnen suburbs of Evatt, Giralang, Kaleen, Lawson and McKellar.

The Committee has proposed retaining the existing names of Brindabella and Ginninderra, but has proposed that the existing name Molonglo no longer be used as an electorate name, following the creation of the new district of Molonglo Valley, which will also include a suburb called Molonglo.

“One key requirement for an ACT redistribution is ensuring that electoral enrolment in each electorate will be within +/- 5% of the quota at the time of the next election. This requirement is aimed at ensuring ‘one vote, one value’,” Phillip said.

“The quota is 1/5 of the ACT total enrolment. Each of the proposed electorates meets this requirement.

A detailed report on the proposal is available on the Elections ACT website and from the office of the ACT Electoral Commission.

“The report of the Redistribution Committeeincludes a map of the proposed boundaries, a statement of reasons for the proposed names and boundaries of the 5 electorates, and detailed statistics,” Mr Green said.

Members of the public are invited to make written objections to the proposal to the Augmented ACT Electoral Commission. Objections should be lodged with the Augmented Electoral Commission by Tuesday 28 April 2015.

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

Objections to the Redistribution Committee’s proposal will be considered by the Augmented Electoral Commission, which consists of the four members of the Redistribution Committeeand the other two members of the ACT Electoral Commission, the Chairperson, Mr Roger Beale AO, and the other member, Ms Dawn Casey.

The Augmented Electoral Commission has the power to affirm the Redistribution Committee’s proposal or to make its own proposed redistribution and invite further public objections. After the public objection period, the Augmented Electoral Commissionwill make the final decision on the names and boundaries of the electorates to be used at the 2016 ACT election.