Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives

A redistribution of federal electoral boundaries will be required in New South Wales and Western Australia following a determination under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 of the number of members of the House of Representatives each state and territory will be entitled to at the next federal election.

Acting Electoral Commissioner, Mr Tom Rogers made the determination today based on the most recent official population figures for the Commonwealth published and provided to him by the acting Australian Statistician.

“The figures show the population has increased sufficiently to result in Western Australia (WA) increasing its entitlement from 15 to 16 seats. At the same time, the entitlement for New South Wales (NSW) will reduce from 48 to 47 seats,” Mr Rogers said.

The total number of members to be elected to the House of Representatives at the next federal election will remain unchanged at 150 members.

A redistribution of federal electoral boundaries in the ACT is also required as more than seven years have elapsed since the last redistribution. The redistribution, due in December 2013, was deferred at the time by the Australian Electoral Commission as the population projections suggested the ACT might possibly gain a third seat at the 2014 determination. However, following today’s determination the entitlement for the ACT remains unchanged at two members.

Mr Rogers said the Australian Electoral Commission will soon direct the commencement of federal redistribution processes in WA, NSW and the ACT.

“Redistribution Committees will be appointed and the public will be invited to make suggestions and comments on matters affecting the drawing of federal electoral boundaries and the naming of electoral divisions in these two states and the ACT,” he said.

Redistribution processes normally take a number of months and new federal electoral boundaries for NSW, WA and the ACT are not expected to be finalised until late 2015 or early 2016.