Names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in Western Australia decided

The augmented Electoral Commission for Western Australia today announced the outcome of its deliberations on the names and boundaries of the 15 federal electoral divisions in Western Australia.

The Hon. Justice Susan Kenny AM, the presiding member, thanked the individuals and organisations who contributed to the redistribution.

“All written objections and comments, as well as the information presented at the inquiry in Perth, have been carefully considered in deciding the final boundaries,” Justice Kenny said.

“The augmented Electoral Commission has unanimously agreed to modify the boundaries of 13 of the electoral divisions initially proposed in March.”

As a result of these modifications, fewer electors will change their electoral division. Two electoral divisions, the Divisions of Brand and Fremantle, will now retain the same boundaries that were in place at the previous federal election.

The augmented Electoral Commission has unanimously accepted the Redistribution Committee’s proposed abolition of the Division of Stirling, proposed electoral division names and many of the boundary changes initially proposed.

Electoral division boundaries

The augmented Electoral Commission has modified the Redistribution Committee’s initial redistribution proposal by placing:

• the suburb of Karnup and part of the suburb of Keralup in the proposed Division of Brand
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the suburb of Karnup and part of the suburb of Keralup to the proposed Division of Canning
• that part of the suburb of Armadale located to the south east of the intersection of Albany Highway and South Western Highway in the proposed Division of Burt
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining this part of the suburb in the proposed Division of Canning
• that part of the suburb of Martin located to the east of the Tonkin Highway in the proposed Division of Canning
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the suburb of Martin in its entirety to the proposed Division of Burt
• the Shire of Waroona in the proposed Division of Canning
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed transferring the Shire of Waroona to the proposed Division of Forrest
• that part of the suburb of Lexia located to the east of the Tonkin Highway in the proposed Division of Hasluck
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining the entirety of the suburb of Lexia in the proposed Division of Pearce
• the Shire of Wiluna in its entirety in the proposed Division of O’Connor
  • the Redistribution Committee had proposed retaining the Shire of Wiluna in the proposed Division of Durack.

The augmented Electoral Commission has also made a small number of minor alterations, involving no elector movement, to adhere to features or administrative boundaries as a means of providing more easily recognisable electoral division boundaries.

Electoral division names

The augmented Electoral Commission has adopted all of the names proposed by the Redistribution Committee for Western Australia. This includes:

• retiring the name ‘Stirling’
• altering the basis for the naming of the Division of Canning to jointly honour:
  • Sadie Miriam Canning MBE (1930–2008)
  • Alfred Wernam Canning (1860–1936)
• retaining the names of the 14 remaining electoral divisions.

Next steps

The augmented Electoral Commission notes this proposal is not significantly different from the Redistribution Committee’s proposal. Therefore, no further input from members of the public will be sought.

The names and boundaries of the federal electoral divisions for Western Australia will apply from Monday 2 August 2021 when a notice of determination is published in the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette. Electoral events will not be contested on these new federal electoral divisions until a writ is issued for a full federal election.

Overview maps will be available on the AEC website on Monday 2 August 2021. Detailed maps and a report outlining the augmented Electoral Commission's reasons for its formal determination will be tabled in the Federal Parliament and will subsequently be made publicly available.

Editor’s notes:

• Initial proposal for the redistribution of Western Australia (19 March 2021)
• Written objections and comments on those objections are all available via the AEC website as well as a full overview of the augmented Electoral Commission's conclusions on objections.
• More information about the Western Australia federal redistribution
• Victorian federal redistribution: The augmented Electoral Commission for Victoria is currently deliberating on the names and boundaries of the 39 federal electoral divisions in Victoria.