The ACT Redistribution Committee has proposed changing the ACT Legislative Assembly electoral boundaries for the 2008 election, the ACT Electoral Commissioner Phillip Green said today.

The Redistribution Committee has proposed transferring the Woden Valley suburb of Farrer from the electorate of Molonglo to the electorate of Brindabella, and transferring the Gungahlin suburb of Palmerston from Molonglo to the electorate of Ginninderra.

Members of the public have 28 days in which to object to the Redistribution Committee’s proposal. Objections in writing may be made to the ACT Electoral Commission up to 28 June 2007.

The proposed electorates are as follows:

BRINDABELLA, a five member electorate comprising the district of Tuggeranong (excluding the suburb of Hume), the Woden Valley suburbs of Chifley, Farrer, Pearce and Torrens and the southern remainder of the ACT;

GINNINDERRA, a five member electorate comprising the districts of Belconnen and Hall (including the entire village of Hall) and the Gungahlin suburbs of Nicholls and Palmerston; and

MOLONGLO, a seven member electorate comprising the districts of Gungahlin (excluding the suburbs of Nicholls and Palmerston), Canberra Central, Weston Creek, Woden Valley (excluding the suburbs of Chifley, Farrer, Pearce and Torrens), Jerrabomberra (including the entire suburb of Hume), Kowen, Majura, and Stromlo.

One key requirement for an ACT redistribution is ensuring that electoral enrolments in the three electorates will be within +/- 5% of the quota at the time of the next election. This requirement is aimed at ensuring “one vote, one value”, Mr Green said. The quota for the two 5 member electorates is 5/17 of the ACT total enrolment, and the quota for the 7 member electorate is 7/17 of the ACT total.

The following table shows the enrolment totals in each current electorate in April 2007 and estimated enrolment totals at the time of the next election in October 2008. This table shows that the electorate of Molonglo is expected to be around 4.8% over the quota in 2008, or about 200 electors short of the permitted 5% maximum.

The Redistribution Committee considered that, if the boundaries are not changed, there is a high possibility that the electorate of Molonglo will exceed the quota by 5% at the time of the 2008 election. Molonglo contains most of the population-growth areas in the ACT, and is growing faster than the electorates of Brindabella and Ginninderra.

The Committee’s proposed boundaries would reduce the size of Molonglo and increase Brindabella and Ginninderra, bringing each electorate closer to the quota in 2008, whilst minimising disturbance to the current electorates. The following table sets out the enrolment estimates for the proposed electorates.