“Members of the public have until this Monday, 4 March to make suggestions for changes to the ACT Legislative Assembly’s electoral boundaries”, the ACT Electoral Commissioner, Mr Damian Cantwell AM, said today.

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

The ACT Legislative Assembly currently consists of 25 Members elected in 5 electorates, with 5 Members representing each of the electorates of Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi.

Any interested persons or organisations can make suggestions in writing to the Redistribution Committee.  Suggestions can be put forward until 4 March 2019.

The suggestions will be published on Tuesday, 5 March 2019 on the Elections ACT website and available in hardcopy at the office of the Electoral Commissioner.  Public comment is invited on these suggestions until 18 March 2019.

“Public consultation is an important part of the redistribution process as it provides the Redistribution Committee with a better understanding of the community’s points of view,” Mr Cantwell said.

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

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.

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.

The ACT Electoral Commission has made available a graphical boundary mapping tool at www.elections.act.gov.au/redistribution to allow users to define and submit their electorate boundaries and name suggestions online.

Complete electoral enrolment statistics and further detailed information is available from the ACT Electoral Commission’s website at www.elections.act.gov.au and from its office at Ground floor, North Building, Civic Square, London Circuit, Canberra City.