2019 Redistribution

Updated 14 Aug 2019

In preparation for the 17 October 2020 ACT Legislative Assembly election, the Electoral Act 1992 provides that a redistribution of ACT Legislative Assembly electorates must begin as soon as practicable 2 years before the date of an ACT election.

The redistribution determined the boundaries and names for 5 electorates, each with 5 members, for the 2020 ACT Legislative Assembly election.

Public suggestions on ACT electorate boundaries could be made through the online redistribution mapping tool made available on the Elections ACT website.

More information about the redistribution process is on the Redistribution fact sheet.

The first step in a redistribution process is the appointment, by the ACT Electoral Commission, of a Redistribution Committee. The Redistribution Committee was appointed by the Commission on 26 October 2018.

The Redistribution Committee consisted of the Electoral Commissioner, Damian Cantwell AM; the ACT Planning and Land Authority, Ben Ponton; the ACT Surveyor-General, Jeffrey Brown; and the Director of Demography, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Beidar Cho.

Before the Redistribution Committee can make a proposal for new electoral boundaries, any interested persons or organisations who wish to make suggestions regarding the redistribution are given 28 days to forward suggestions to the Redistribution Committee.

The public suggestion phase of this redistribution process commenced on Tuesday, 5 February 2019 and closed on Monday, 4 March 2019.

Suggestions could be lodged through the Online redistribution mapping tool.

Following the completion of the public suggestion period, all submitted responses were made available for viewing on this webpage and at the office of the ACT Electoral Commission.

A 14 day period (5 March - 18 March), in which comments on the suggestions could be lodged, then automatically commenced.

The 28 day public suggestion period closed on 4 March 2019.

15 suggestions were received:

Individuals:

Name Pdf version Explanatory document
Alex Adkins pdf version 
Anne-Maree Nelmes pdf version 
Barry Coyles 1 pdf version 
Barry Coyles 2 pdf version 
Ben Chesler pdf version 
Chef Giovannus pdf version 
Chris Erett pdf version 
Martin Gordon pdf versionExplanation document
Michael Adams pdf version 
Peter Sutherland pdf version 

Organisations:

Name Pdf version Explanatory document
ACT Labor pdf versionExplanation document
Canberra Liberals pdf versionExplanation document
Proportional Representation Society of Australia - ACT Branch pdf versionExplanation document
Weston Creek Community Council pdf version Explanation document
Woden Valley Community Council  Explanation document

Copies of all suggestions received by the Committee were made available for public inspection on the ACT Electoral Commission's website and at the Electoral Commissioner’s office from 5 March 2019.

Written comments relating to those suggestions were due to be lodged with the Redistribution Committee by 18 March 2019. Seven comments were received:

Individuals:

Name Pdf version Explanatory document
Barry Coyles  Comment document
Edward Seychelles 1 pdf version 
Edward Seychelles 2 pdf version 

Organisations:

Name Explanatory document
Deakin Residents Association Comment document
Inner South Canberra Community Council Comment document
Proportional Representation Society of Australia - ACT Branch Comment document
Weston Creek Community Council Comment document

Following consideration of the submissions, the Redistribution Committee published its proposed redistribution on 7 May 2019, setting out the proposed boundaries and names of the 5 ACT Legislative Assembly electorates.

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

Brindabella, a 5-Member electorate comprising the district of Tuggeranong (excluding the section of the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah that is East of Drakeford Drive, and that portion of Tuggeranong District between Drakeford Drive and Athllon Drive) and the districts of Booth, Cotter River, Paddy’s River, Rendezvous Creek, Tennent and Mount Clear;

Ginninderra, a 5-Member electorate comprising the district of Belconnen (excluding the suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen);

Kurrajong, a 5-Member electorate comprising the district of Canberra Central (excluding the suburbs of Deakin and Yarralumla), and the districts of Jerrabomberra (including the entire suburb of Hume), Kowen and Majura;

Murrumbidgee, a 5-Member electorate comprising the districts of Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek, Woden Valley, Coree (including the village of Uriarra) and Stromlo, the section of the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah that is East of Drakeford Drive, and that  portion of Tuggeranong District between Drakeford Drive and Athllon Drive, and the Canberra Central suburbs of Deakin and Yarralumla; and

Yerrabi, a 5-Member electorate comprising the districts of Gungahlin and Hall and the Belconnen District suburbs of Giralang and Kaleen.

A notice inviting objections to the proposed boundaries was published in the Canberra Times on Tuesday, 7 May 2019.

Members of the public were invited to make written objections to the proposal to the Augmented Electoral Commission. Objections were required to be lodged with the Augmented Electoral Commission by 3 June 2019.

Following the publication of the first proposed redistribution on 7 May 2019, there were 28 days within which initial objections or comments to the proposed redistribution could be lodged by members of the public or organisations.

The objection period closed on 3 June 2019.

7 objections were received:

Individuals:

NameObjection
Chris Erett objection (pdf)
Elizabeth Gillespie objection (pdf)

Organisations:

Name Pdf version
ACT Labor objection (pdf)
Canberra Liberals objection (pdf)
Deakin Residents Association objection (pdf)
Inner South Canberra Community Council objection (pdf)
Yarralumla Residents Assocation objection (pdf)

The Augmented Electoral Commission - consisting of the 3 members of the ACT Electoral Commission and the other 3 members of the Redistribution Committee - decided to accept the electoral boundaries proposed by the ACT Redistribution Committee and that it would not uphold any of the objections to the proposed redistribution of the ACT's electorate boundaries.

The objections were carefully considered by the Augmented Commission.  The Augmented Commission decided that the objections did not raise any substantive new matters that had not already been addressed by the Redistribution Committee in its consideration of the public suggestions and comments.  Accordingly the Augmented Commission did not consider that it was necessary to hold a public hearing into the objections.

As the Augmented Commission accepted the proposal of the Redistribution Committee without change, the proposal of the Augmented Commission was not significantly different from the Redistribution Committee's proposal. Consequently, there are were further opportunities for public objections.

On Tuesday 2 July 2019, the Augmented Commission published a detailed statement of reasons for its decision to accept the proposed boundaries unchanged, including an examination of each of the objections to the proposed boundaries.

After it considered all the initial objections lodged, the Augmented Electoral Commission accepted the proposal of the Redistribution Committee without change. Consequently, no further opportunities for public objections were made available. The Augmented Commission formally completed the redistribution process by publishing of a notifiable instrument of determination under section 35 of the Electoral Act and tabled a report in the Assembly concerning the redistribution.

After it considered all the initial objections lodged, the Augmented Electoral Commission accepted the proposal of the Redistribution Committee without change. Consequently, there were no further opportunities for public objections.

The Augmented Electoral Commission's final determination was notified on the ACT Legislation Register.

The final step in the process was formally tabling the Redistribution report in the ACT Legislative Assembly. The final report was tabled on 13 August 2019.