Legislation to restore the House of Assembly from 25 to 35 members will be based on a model of five electorates, Premier Jeremy Rockliff confirmed on Tuesday.
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It was revealed last week the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry was amongst those in favour of a restored chamber of seven electorates with five members each.
Prior to 1998, there were seven members from five electorates in the House of Assembly.
Mr Rockliff said based on advice provided by Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Andrew Hawkey, five seven-member electorates would be the simplest and most cost-effective model.
He said he intended to table legislation to make the change by the end of the year.
In his advice to the Premier, Mr Hawkey said the cost of developing a seven-electorate model would be $2.5 million for the first two years with an additional $300,000 for each state election.
He said each electorate would require a new name and boundaries, and with this, a large public awareness campaign would need to be undertaken.
Mr Hawkey said a seven-member electorate would have a reduced quota, however, so would seven five-member electorates as there would be voters in each division.
Following the Premier's announcement, Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb, who has been vocal on the need for genuine restoration, said democratic principles had prevailed.
"Restoring the representative capacity intended by Hare-Clark is essential and long-overdue," she said.
Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said a seven-electorate model would be complicated, costly, disruptive with no clear benefit.
"A restored House of Assembly will deliver a deeper talent pool, better community representation and stronger governance for all Tasmanians," she said.
"We very much look forward to the day."
Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey said the chamber believed regional representation would be enhanced through seven electorates.
"It's disappointing that the Premier appears to have ruled this out," he said.
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