# Redistribution (Australia)

In Australia, a redistribution is the process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral divisions to reflect changes in population and changes in the number of representatives. The Australian Electoral Commission, an independent statutory authority, oversees the redistribution process for federal elections, taking into account many factors.[1] Politicians, political parties and the public may make submissions to the AEC on proposed new boundaries, but any interference with their deliberations is considered a serious offence.

Section 24 of the Constitution of Australia specifies that the number of members of the House of Representatives in each state is to be calculated from their population, although a minimum of five members is guaranteed for each state regardless of population. This minimum condition is only met by Tasmania, the smallest state. Representation of territories has been specified by subsequent laws. After the number of members for each state and territory is determined, in a process called apportionment or determination, the state and territory is divided into that number of electoral divisions.

A redistribution (sometimes called redrawing or "revision")[2] of the geographic boundaries of divisions in a state or territory takes place when an apportionment determination results in a change in the number of seats to which a state or territory is entitled, at least once every seven years, or sooner when the AEC determines that population shifts within a state or territory have caused some seats to have too many or too few voters. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 requires that all electoral divisions within a state or territory have approximately an equal numbers of enrolled voters. The Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973 reduced the allowed variation of electors in each division to 10% of the state or territory's average, down from 20%.[3] New boundaries apply only to general elections held after the redistribution process has been completed, and by-elections are held on the previous electoral boundaries.

Each state and territory has its own commission which follows similar but not identical processes and principles for determining electoral boundaries and conducting elections within their jurisdiction, and those of local governments.

## Total number of members

Section 24 of the Constitution of Australia requires that the total number of members of the Australian House of Representatives shall be "as nearly as practicable" twice as many as the number of members of the Australian Senate. There is presently a total of 76 senators: 12 senators from each of the six states and two from each of the two autonomous internal territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). After the 2019 federal election there will be 151 members of the House of Representatives.

The total number of members of the Australian House of Representatives, and consequently electorates, has increased from time to time. Every time there is an increase in the number of members, a redistribution is required to be undertaken, except in Tasmania which has always had the constitutional minimum number of five members. At the first federal election there were 65 members of the House of Representatives. In 1949, the number was increased from 74 to 121 (excluding the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory),[4] and in 1984 it was increased from 125 to 148.[5] Following the 2017 reapportionment, the total number of members increased from 150 to 151.

## Apportionment of seats to States

Section 24 of the Constitution requires that electorates be apportioned among the States in proportion to their respective populations; provided that each original State has at least 5 members in the House of Representatives. Section 29 of the Constitution forbids electorate boundaries from crossing state lines, and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 sets out further requirements.[6]

The AEC determines the number of members to which each State and Territory is entitled. The determination is made one year after the first sitting day for a new House of Representatives. A redistribution is postponed if it would begin within one year of the expiration of the House of Representatives, to prevent a general election from occurring while a redistribution is in progress. The population in each State is officially communicated to the AEC by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which estimates the population about a year after each election.[7]

The AEC calculates the number of members/divisions for a State as follows:[8]

${\displaystyle {\mbox{Population quota}}={\frac {\mbox{Total population of the six States}}{\mbox{Number of Senators for the States x 2}}}}$
${\displaystyle {\mbox{Number of members in the House of Representatives}}={\frac {\mbox{Total population of individual State }}{\mbox{Population quota}}}}$

The entitlement of each state is rounded to the nearest whole number. However, each Original State is entitled to a minimum of 5 members, a provision that gives Tasmania higher representation than its population would justify. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are each granted at least two members.[9]

### 2014 reapportionment

On 13 November 2014, the AEC made an apportionment determination that resulted in Western Australia's entitlement increasing from 15 to 16 seats, and New South Wales's decreasing from 48 to 47 seats.[8] The number of seats by States in the House of Representatives arising from the 2014 determination were as follows:[10]

State Seats Change
New South Wales 47   1
Victoria 37
Queensland 30
Western Australia 16   1
South Australia 11
Tasmania 5
Australian Capital Territory 2
Northern Territory 2
Total 150

A redistribution of electoral boundaries in New South Wales and Western Australia was undertaken before the 2016 election.[10] The redistribution in New South Wales was announced on 16 October 2015, with the abolition of the Labor-held Division of Hunter.[11] A redistribution also occurred in the Australian Capital Territory, as seven years had elapsed since the last time the ACT's boundaries were reviewed.[12]

### 2017 reapportionment

The first sitting of the House of Representatives following the July 2016 election took place on 31 August 2016,[9] and the three-year term was scheduled to expire on 29 August 2019. Following its timeline, the AEC on 31 August 2017 announced an apportionment determination following the completion of processing of the 2016 census. The determination resulted in a reduction of one seat in South Australia to 10, an increase of one seat in Victoria to 38 and an additional seat in the ACT to 3. The total number of members of the House of Representatives increased from 150 to 151 at the subsequent election in May 2019.[9][13] The number of seats by States in the House of Representatives arising from the 2017 determination were as follows:

State Seats Change
New South Wales 47
Victoria 38   1
Queensland 30
Western Australia 16
South Australia 10   1
Tasmania 5
Australian Capital Territory 3   1
Northern Territory 2
Total 151   1

A draft redistribution in Victoria was released on 6 April 2018, and the final distribution was released on 12 July.[14][15] There were also three scheduled redistributions of electoral boundaries, as seven years had elapsed since the last time these boundaries were reviewed.

## Recent redistributions: 2016–2019

### Australian Capital Territory

A redistribution of federal electoral divisions in the Australian Capital Territory commenced on 4 September 2017, due to changes in the territory's representation entitlement. The AEC released a proposed redistribution on 6 April 2018, and the final determination on 3 July 2018.[16] The redistribution resulted in the creation of a third ACT electoral division named Bean (notionally fairly safe Labor), after historian Charles Bean.[17][18]

### Northern Territory

On 7 December 2016, the Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory announced the results of its deliberations into the boundaries of Lingiari and Solomon, the two federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory. New boundaries gazetted from 7 February 2017 will see the remainder of the Litchfield Municipality and parts of Palmerston (the suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and part of Yarrawonga) transferred from Solomon to Lingiari.[19]

### Queensland

A scheduled redistribution began in Queensland on 6 January 2017, and was finalised on 27 March 2018. Changes were made to the boundaries of 18 of Queensland's 30 electoral divisions, and no division names were changed.[20]

### South Australia

A South Australian seat was abolished due to population changes since the state's last redistribution in 2011. Although South Australia's population was still increasing, faster increases in other states saw a reduction in South Australia's representation from 11 to 10 seats. This was the third time South Australia lost a seat since the 1984 enlargement of the parliament, with Hawker abolished in 1993 and Bonython in 2004.[21][22][23]

The redistribution in South Australia commenced on 4 September 2017. The proposed redistribution report was released on 13 April 2018, and the final determination on 26 June 2018. The AEC abolished the division of Port Adelaide.[24] The hybrid urban-rural seat of Wakefield became the entirely urban seat of Spence, after Catherine Helen Spence.[25][26] The more rural portions of Wakefield transferred to Grey and Barker.[27]

### Tasmania

A scheduled redistribution began in Tasmania on 1 September 2016.[28] The determinations were announced on 27 September 2017, involved boundary changes, and the Division of Denison was renamed the Division of Clark.[29]

### Victoria

A redistribution of federal electoral divisions in Victoria commenced on 4 September 2017, due to changes in the state's representation entitlement. The determinations were announced on 20 June 2018, and created a 38th electoral division named Fraser (notionally a safe Labor).[30]

Several divisions were also renamed: Batman to Cooper (after William Cooper), McMillan to Monash (after Sir John Monash), Melbourne Ports to Macnamara (after Dame Jean Macnamara) and Murray to Nicholls (after Sir Douglas and Lady Nicholls). A proposal to rename Corangamite to Cox (after swimming instructor May Cox) did not proceed.[31]

The Coalition notionally lost the seat of Dunkley and Corangamite to Labor in the redistribution.[32]

## When redistribution required

A redistribution of State divisions is required in three circumstances:

• if there has been a change in the number of parliamentary representatives to which a State or Territory is entitled, due to a change in population or an increase in the overall number of members, subject to the minimum number of divisions in original States.
• if the number of electors in more than one third of the divisions in a State or one of the divisions in the ACT or Northern Territory deviates from the average State divisional enrolment by more than 10% for a period of more than two months.
• if seven years has elapsed since the previous redistribution.

## Redistribution process

A redistribution is undertaken on a State-by-State basis. After the redistribution process commences, a Redistribution Committee — consisting of the Electoral Commissioner, the Australian Electoral Officer for the State concerned (in the ACT, the senior Divisional Returning officer), the State Surveyor General and the State Auditor General — is formed. The Electoral Commissioner invites public suggestions on the redistribution which must be lodged within 30 days. A further period of 14 days is allowed for comments on the suggestions lodged. The Redistribution Committee then divides the State or Territory into divisions and publishes its proposed redistribution. A period of 28 days is allowed after publication of the proposed redistribution for written objections. A further period of 14 days is provided for comments on the objections lodged. These objections are considered by an augmented Electoral Commission — consisting of the four members of the Redistribution Committee and the two part-time members of the Electoral Commission.

At the time of the redistribution the number of electors in the divisions may vary up to 10% from the 'quota' or average divisional figure but at a point 3.5 years after the expected completion of the redistribution, the figures should not vary from the average projected quota by more or less than 3.5%. Thus the most rapidly growing divisions are generally started with enrolments below the quota while those that are losing population are started above the quota.

Neither the Government nor the Parliament can reject or amend the final determination of the augmented Electoral Commission.

## Management

Boundaries for the Australian House of Representatives and for the six state and two territorial legislatures are drawn up by independent authorities, at the federal level by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and in the states and territories by their equivalent bodies. Politicians have no influence over the process, although they, along with any other citizen or organisation, can make submissions to the independent authorities suggesting changes.

There is significantly less political interference in the redistribution process than is common in the United States. In 1978, federal Cabinet minister Reg Withers was forced to resign for suggesting to another minister that the name of a federal electorate be changed to suit a political ally.[33]

There have been examples of malapportionment of federal and state electoral districts in the past, often resulting in rural constituencies containing far fewer voters than urban ones and maintaining in power those parties that have rural support despite polling fewer popular votes. Past malapportionments in Queensland, Western Australia and the 'Playmander' in South Australia were notorious examples of the differences between urban and rural constituency sizes than their population would merit. The Playmander distorted electoral boundaries and policies that kept the Liberal and Country League in power for 32 years from 1936 to 1968.[34] In extreme cases, rural areas had four times the voting value of metropolitan areas. Supporters of such arrangements claimed Australia's urban population dominates the countryside and that these practices gave fair representation to country people.[citation needed]

## Naming of divisions

The redistribution, creation and abolition of divisions is the responsibility of the AEC. When new divisions are created, the AEC will select a name. Most divisions are named in honour of prominent historical people, such as former politicians (often Prime Ministers), explorers, artists and engineers, and rarely for geographic places.

Some of the criteria the AEC uses when naming new divisions are:[35]

• divisions are named after deceased Australians who have rendered outstanding service to their country, with consideration given to former Prime Ministers
• the original names of Divisions proclaimed at Federation in 1901 are to be retained where possible
• geographical place names are to be avoided
• Aboriginal names can be used as appropriate
• names that duplicate names of state electoral districts are not to be used.

## Notional seat status

After a redistribution is carried out in a state or territory, the AEC calculates "notional" margins for the redistributed divisions by modelling the outcome of the previous election as if the new boundaries had been in place. These notional margins are used as the baseline for the electoral swings calculated and published in the AEC's virtual tally room at the following election.[36] In some cases, the change in electoral boundaries can see the party which notionally holds the seat differ from the party which won it at the election.[37]

## References

1. ^ AEC - Redistribution overview
2. ^ "Advertising". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania. 27 March 1886. p. 4. Retrieved 2 July 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
3. ^ Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973, s.4
4. ^ http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/reform.htm
5. ^ Representation Act 1983
6. ^ Australian Electoral Commission.Research Report 4 – Australian Federal Redistributions 1901–2003. Accessed 5 May 2008.
7. ^ Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 — Section 46: Ascertainment of numbers of people of Commonwealth, States and Territories
8. ^ a b Calculating representation entitlements of states and territories
9. ^ a b c Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives
10. ^ a b Redistributions
11. ^ The Age, 16 October 2015: Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon loses his seat in redistribution by Australian Electoral Commission
12. ^ "Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives". Australian Electoral Commission. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
13. ^ "Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives". aec.gov.au. 31 August 2017.
14. ^ Victorian federal redistribution
15. ^ Labor could be sitting pretty after planned electoral boundary changes
16. ^ "Step 6 – announcement of names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in the Australian Capital Territory". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
17. ^ "Proposed federal electoral divisions for ACT released". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
18. ^ "2017-18 Federal Redistribution - Australian Capital Territory". ABC Elections. 20 June 2018.
19. ^ "Media release: Augmented Electoral Commission decides names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
20. ^ "Queensland redistribution indicative timetable". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
21. ^ "Electoral redistributions during the 45th Parliament: APH Statistics and Mapping". Aph.gov.au. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
22. ^ "South Australia to potentially lose federal seat under future redistribution". Abc.net.au. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
23. ^ "South Australia set to be reduced to 10 federal electorates". The Advertiser. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
24. ^ "Electoral Commission scraps seat of Port Adelaide held by Labor MP Mark Butler". ABC News. 25 June 2018.
25. ^ "Proposed federal electoral divisions for South Australia released". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
26. ^ "2017-18 Federal Redistribution - South Australia". ABC Elections. 26 June 2018.
27. ^ "Federal electoral divisions in South Australia formalised". Australian Electoral Commission. 20 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
28. ^ "Tasmanian redistribution indicative timetable". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
29. ^ "Names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in Tasmania decided". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
30. ^ "2017-18 Federal Redistributions - Victoria". ABC Elections. 20 June 2018.
31. ^ "Names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in Victoria decided". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
32. ^ Green, Antony. "2017–18 Federal Redistributions". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
33. ^ National Archives of Australia: Background to the 1978 Cabinet records. Retrieved 19 November 2014
34. ^ Labor and Liberal Parties, SA, Dean Jaensch, "A 2:1 ratio of enrolments in favour of the rural areas was in force from 1936."
35. ^ Australian Electoral Commission. Guideline for Naming Divisions. Updated 20 July 2011. Accessed 1 February 2012.
36. ^ "National seat status". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
37. ^ Green, Antony. "2017–18 Federal Redistributions". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 May 2019.