No boundary change impact on Wentworth

New federal electoral boundary redistributions will bring significant changes to several city divisions, but there will be no change in Wentworth, the blue-ribbon seat held by Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

The Australian Electoral Commission has released its redistribution report for New South Wales, detailing the proposed new federal electoral boundaries. A slight fall in the NSW population has reduced the seats from 49 to 48, and triggered a redistribution of boundaries. Labor’s Laurie Ferguson’s seat of Reid has been abolished and adjacent divisions have been resized, mostly in the outer NW and SW of the metropolitan area, with Blaxland gaining most of Reid.

The Electoral Commissioner said the Redistribution Committee was required by legislation to draw new boundaries that ensured as far as practicable strict adherence to proportional representation.

The inner city division of Lowe has been renamed McMahon, in recognition of Prime Minister Sir William McMahon (1971-1972) who was first elected to parliament in 1949 and held the seat for 33 years until he retired in 1982.

It is thought likely that Laurie Ferguson will be parachuted into one of the safe seats adjacent to Reid that will attain a Labor margin as the result of the distribution.

The changes have not yet passed into law; written objections must be lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission no later than 6pm on Friday September 4.

For information see ABC election commentator Anthony Green’s excellent blog – Federal Redistributions: The Big Picture at http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/

– BY JEREMY BROWN