The Liberal and Labor Parties and Independent Michael Moore are in broad agreement over the ACT’s new electoral boundaries, according submissions made public yesterday.
They all recommended a chunk of south Woden would have to go into the Tuggeranong electorate to make up the numbers.
They all addressed the problem of how to create two five-member and one seven-member electorates out of Canberra’s townships using natural boundaries and at the same time getting the right number of voters in each electorate so each vote is of equal value.
All acknowledged that at least some part of one natural community would have to be hived off to another to get the numbers right.
All agreed that the seven-member electorate be in the centre, including Weston Creek and most of Woden, with the two five-member electorates based on Belconnen and Tuggeranong.
The next election is to be held on the third Saturday in February, 1995.
The movements from natural township boundaries recommended to get the voter numbers right were as follows:
Labor and Liberal parties recommended that Hall go into the Belconnen electorate and that Gungahlin go to the central electorate.
The Liberal submission, written by its electoral spokesman, Gary Humphries, and Michael Moore separately, said Torrens, Isaacs and Farrer should go into the Tuggeranong electorate.
The Labor submission, written by ACT branch secretary Doug Thompson, said O’Malley, Isaacs, Swinger Hill, Mawson and Farrer should go to Tuggeranong.
All agreed that Weston Creek should be in one electorate, the central one. It would be impossible to make an electorate of Tuggeranong and the whole of Weston because it would have too many voters to satisfy the equal-voting-value rules.
A submission from the Weston Creek Community Association argued all of Weston Creek should be in one electorate, even if it was Belconnen.
Mr Moore said the large seat should be in the centre where the prime cultural, business and planning focus is. If the large electorate were on the edge it would put the focus there and be divisive.
On the south Woden excision, the Labor submission said, “”Isaacs and Swinger Hill were developed at a similar time to Tuggeranong while Farrer and Mawson between them share some community of interest. The physical separation of these suburbs as a block from other areas of Woden will not disadvantage the community.”
It was preferable to splitting Weston which had its own community council and a strong identity.
The Liberal submission said separating some of south Woden was not ideal and there was little logic in having Pearce and Torrens in different electorates, but the law on equal votes would require some arbitrary division somewhere.
It suggested the boundary be Beasley Street, Athllon Drive, Yamba Drive and Ngunawal Drive, putting Torrens, Farrer and Isaacs into the southern electorate. It was preferable to splitting Weston.
The Liberal submission noted there were fewer community associations in the central area and old Woden than in Weston, Belconnen and Tuggeranong. People in the central area tended to identify with individual suburbs rather than areas, therefore it was more appropriate for the central electorate to take in Gungahlin and the bulk of Woden than to split Belconnen, Tuggeranong or Weston.
The Turner Residents’ Association said the electorates should be determined according to age of settlement because this largely determined community of interest. The two five-member electorates should be based on Tuggeranong and Gungahlin respectively. Gungahlin would take in the northern and western newer parts of Belconnen. The older eastern and southern parts of Belconnen would be in the central electorate.
Robert Hanna, of Gowrie, submitted that the number of MLAs should be cut to 15 and there should be three five-member electorates which would be the same as the three federal ACT seats, bearing in mind a third Federal ACT seat has to be created in the next year or so.
Copies of submissions are available from the office of the ACT Electoral Commission 3rd Floor, ACT Administration Centre, 1 Constitution Avenue. Phone 2050236.
The legislation provides that comments on the submissions must be in by April 30. The redistribution committee will then do a proposed redistribution with boundaries and names, and publish it. Objections can be lodged for 28 days after publication. Then the augmented Electoral Commission will consider them and may call public hearings before publishing a second proposed redistribution (which could be unchanged).
Further objections can be put and heard as with the first redistribution before a final unappealable redistribution.
Director of ACT Electoral Office, Phil Green, said the process was expected to be finished by August.
The redistribution committee comprises Gary Whitley, who headed the Self-Government Unit; the Chief Territory Planner, George Tomlins, Edwin Hyde and Jan Woodward.
The augmented commission is the redistribution committee plus the chair of the ACT Electoral Commission, Graham Glenn, and commissioner Dr Christabel Young.