The Wannon electorate should include Colac Otway Shire, the Victorian Labor Party says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In its submission to the Australian Electoral Commisson’s (AEC) planned redistribution of federal electoral boundaries, Labor has proposed multiple changes to address population quota shortfalls in the Mallee and Wannon electorates.
They include moving all of the Golden Plains Shire, currently split between the Ballarat and Corangamite electorates, within the Corangamite electorate.
Once it gains the balance of Golden Plains Shire, Corangamite could shed Colac Otway Shire to Wannon, Labor said.
Wannon could shed its portion of Central Goldfields Shire to Mallee, which then could move all of West Wimmera Shire to Wannon to keep it within quota.
However the Liberal Party, which currently holds both Wannon and Corangamite, does not want the boundaries changed and said they were well constituted around communities of interest.
But the Nationals and the Greens have joined Labor in advocating for change.
The Nationals said Wannon should move east to incorporate Colac, Goldens Plains and the Otways.
The Greens said the projected shortage of voters in Wannon could be made up from over quota voters in either Ballarat or Corangamite.
It has also suggested moving Colac and a large part of Corangamite Shire into Wannon along with Avoca, Beaufort and parts of Golden Plains from Ballarat.
The northern part of the Maryborough areas should be moved from Wannon to Mallee to address the elector deficit there, the Greens said.
The submissions from the parties were among 67 which the AEC received.
Victoria is undergoing a redistribution because its number of House of Representatives members is to increase by one to 38.
The submissions included a request to name the new electorate after the former Member for Wannon, Malcolm Fraser.