ACT residents will soon be invited to suggest how Legislative Assembly electoral boundaries for the 2020 ACT election might look, the ACT Electoral Commissioner, Mr Damian Cantwell AM said today.

“The public consultation process for the redistribution of the ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries will officially commence on Tuesday 5 February with a call for public submissions,” Mr Cantwell said.

The ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries are to be redrawn in preparation for the 17 October 2020 election.

The ACT Legislative Assembly consists of 25 Members elected in five electorates, with five Members representing each of the electorates of Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi

“The ACT Redistribution Committee met for the first time on 5 November 2018 and met again on 21 January 2019 in preparation for the commencement of the public suggestion period” Mr Cantwell said.

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

“The ACT Redistribution Committee has decided to publish an official notice on 5 February 2019 inviting suggestions for boundaries and names for the ACT’s electorates.  A copy of the public notice will appear in the Canberra Times,” Mr Cantwell said.

Any interested persons or organisations will have until 4 March 2019 to make suggestions to the Redistribution Committee.  Those suggestions will then be made available for public comment from 5 March 2019 until 18 March 2019.

After considering the public submissions, the Redistribution Committee will publish a proposed redistribution of the ACT into five electorates in mid 2019.  People will then have 28 days in which to object to the proposed boundaries.

One key requirement for the redistribution will be ensuring that electoral enrolments in each electorate will be within +/- 5% of the quota at the time of the next election.  The quota for each electorate is 1/5 of the ACT total enrolment.

When redrawing the electoral boundaries, the Redistribution Committee is also required to take account of the community of interests, including economic, social and regional interests; means of communication and travel; the physical features and area of each proposed electorate; the boundaries of existing electorates; and the boundaries of suburban divisions and sections.

Complete electoral enrolment statistics and further detailed information will be available from the ACT Electoral Commission’s website from 5 February 2019.