And I have tried to do just that while considering the proposed boundary changes advertised recently by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission, that would fundamentally change the electorate of Western Tiers.

In its place is a new proposed electorate, to be called McIntyre, which would stretch from Latrobe, in the North-West, across Tasmania to the shores of the East Coast, and from Flinders Island to Bicheno, taking in the Scottsdale area.

The North Eastern area of Tasmania has for many years been part of the electorate of Apsley which would also be fundamentally changed.

A proposed new electorate called Prosser, stretching south from Bicheno through to the Sorell municipal area, to as far south as the south-eastern tip of Tasmania, would replace Apsley. These are major changes in the composition of two very large electorates, as well as the balance of political representation in the Tasmanian Parliament.

The current members of Western Tiers (myself) and Apsley (Tania Rattray) were only briefed on the proposed changes a day before they were advertised in newspapers. No other Legislative Council members were aware of the changes until they saw the proposed electorate maps in the papers. The 50,000 enrolled voters in those two electorates also received no prior information.

Strangely, the legislation requiring regular reviews of Legislative Council electoral boundaries does not provide for affected voters or their elected members to be consulted before proposed changes are advertised.

The primary requirement in Legislative Council redistributions is that the number of electors, in four and a half years’ time, must not vary more than 10 per cent from the average division enrolment (currently 24,998 voters).

Electorate numbers are calculated using Australian Bureau of Statistics data to predict future population trends. At the moment it assumes that the gradual flow of people from the North and North-West of Tasmania to the South will continue.

The other important requirement is that there should be “communities of interest” in electorates. While primary industry might be a common “interest” for the Meander Valley, North Eastern Tasmania and the East Coast there really are few other similarities.

Of real concern to the people of Northern Tasmania is that the heart of the new electorate of Prosser would be Sorell and if the proposed changes went ahead Northern Tasmania would lose a voice in the Parliament.

More importantly, rural communities in the North would lose a voice. The northern half of Tasmania is the engine room of our agriculture and mining industries. We have the most productive farmland and its economic value to our state is immense.

Primary industries are forever changing and to assist in that change there is often a need for legislative change. That means voices in our Parliament from people within the area where this productivity is occurring is vital.

That is why we need to keep our Northern voices in state Parliament and why we must do all we can to look for a less disruptive redistribution proposal from the Tasmanian Electoral Commission.