Two of Tasmania’s Legislative Council electorates face major splits and new names if proposed changes to the boundaries are approved.
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The Initial Redistribution Proposal, released on Saturday, completely changes the face of the Western Tiers and Apsley electorates, as well as introducing two name changes – McIntyre and Prosser.
A redistribution proposal is required by law every nine years to keep electorate population numbers even.
Apsley MLC Tania Rattray said she was stunned by the proposed changes.
“It won’t be easy for my constituents and the community to get their heads around this,” she said. “These are major wide-sweeping changes and the North and East have bore the brunt of the redistribution.
“I’m extremely proud of my communities, and to be wiped out with the stroke of a pen is very confronting and I haven’t quite come to terms with it.”
Western Tiers Independent MLC Greg Hall described the proposed changes as “very perplexing”.
“What is being proposed runs counter to accepted practice and would cause enormous disruption and cost to Tasmanian taxpayers for little or no improvement in elector representation.
“This proposal cuts two of Tasmania’s major regional electorates, which currently have a north south boundary, and splits them from east to west with a name change thrown in for good measure to add to the confusion.
“This would be a massive change to two large rural and regional electorates just for the sake of maintaining the electoral boundary head count.”
The Legislative Council Electoral Boundaries Act 1995 requires a review of boundaries every nine years to maintain a statistically balanced number of electors across all divisions.
“The Liberal Party will examine the draft proposal very closely and I expect we will put in a submission,” Tasmanian Liberal Party director Sam McQuestin said after the initial proposal was released.
Mr Hall said if the proposed changes went ahead, half the people who voted for current Members in Western Tiers and Apsley would be “electorally relocated overnight”.
“Western Tiers and Apsley seem to have taken the full blast of these proposed electorate changes whilst the city and major township seats have hardly felt a tremor.”
Ms Rattray said she would ask the Attorney General to slow down the process and “think very carefully” about the proposed changes.
“I understand the numbers game but let’s be reasonable about what we can achieve as well as taking community interest into account.”
The initial proposal is open for comments and objections until February 25.