Push for action on electoral boundary

PREMIER Will Hodgman has been asked to correct an electoral boundary anomaly that has bisected the municipality of Latrobe.

But the Government says electoral boundaries, which were redistributed in 2009, are a matter for the independent Electoral Commission.

The town of Latrobe remains in Braddon but the growing beachside area of Port Sorell has become part of the electorate of Lyons.

In Federal Parliament last week, Braddon Labor MP Justine Keay called on Mr Hodgman to use the resumption of State Parliament to unite the entire Latrobe municipality in the state electorate of Braddon.

“The Australian Electoral Commission completed a redistribution of federal electoral boundaries in November last year,” she said.

“Part of that redistribution included moving the entire Latrobe municipality including Hawley, Port Sorell and Shearwater into the federal division of Braddon.

“There is clearly strong community of interest between the Port Sorell area, Devonport and more broadly the Cradle Coast region.”

The Latrobe Council has echoed those sentiments, saying it had strongly objected to the transfer.

“The Port Sorell area has many commercial, tourism and social links to Latrobe and the North-West Coast and has little connection with the majority of the population and infrastructure contained in the Lyons electorate,” the council said in a submission.

Ms Keay said she found it “bizarre” that Mr Hodgman did not use his final parliamentary sitting of 2017 to change the state boundaries to match the federal boundaries.

A State Government spokesman said the redistribution should not be used for political point scoring which “Ms Keay is clearly trying to do”.