Broad: We need decentralisation
Member for Mallee Andrew Broad said he believed the potential expansion of his electorate to geographically cover more than a third of the state points to a need for decentralisation.
Mr Broad, commenting on an official report proposing major changes to Mallee and neighbouring Wannon electoral divisions based on voter numbers, said findings reflected a dramatic difference in population growth across the state.
“What it says to me is that if our geographical boundaries are expanding, we are not experiencing the same rate of population growth in our part of the world as Melbourne,” he said.
“Some might say that’s a good thing, others would say it’s a challenge. I think it leads more towards a reason for decentralising the population. It tells us that there is more to do in this space.”
The Australian Electoral Commission’s Redistribution Committee for Victoria announced a redrawing of federal electoral boundaries in its ‘proposed redistribution of Victoria into electoral divisions’ report.
It found that projections were that the existing Mallee electorate would have 99,874 voters by August 25, 2019, which meant it was at least 6635 voters short of the minimum number permitted by the Electoral Act.
In a juggle to meet required electors for both Mallee and neighbouring Wannon, the committee has proposed Loddon Shire move into Mallee from Murray electorate, Central Goldfields Shire shift from Wannon to Mallee, parts of Pyrenees Shire shift to Mallee and Stawell and south-western parts of Northern Grampians Shire transfer from Mallee to Wannon.
The proposal for Mallee means the electorate would stretch, north to south, from Mildura to Rocklands Reservoir. It would also expand east to west from the edge of Bendigo district to the South Australian border.
Critically, it splits Stawell district and the Grampians from the Wimmera to join Ararat in the northern edge of Wannon, held by Dan Tehan.
The change would increase the number of municipalities under the watch of the Member for Mallee from nine to 12. Mr Broad was philosophical about the proposed changes, welcoming new communities he might represent in the future and the challenges they might represent.
He also promised to continue to represent Stawell district people who had voted him in, until the next election.
He said he had a traditional affinity and family connections in Loddon and joked that the northern Pyrenees would provide him with a bookend ‘with the best wine in the south and best wine in the north’.
“And the people of Maryborough are my kind of people who need a National that will fight for them,” he said.
But Mr Broad, who already flies a plane across his electorate for meetings at his own expense, said he would face a staffing issue based on a 10 percent increase in workload as well as regional challenges.
“Mallee is now well and truly more than a third of the state. I can’t help but wonder whether we want to get to the stage where we change the name of where we are to ‘where all the great people who aren’t in Melbourne live’,” he said.
The proposed changes are scheduled for ratification on July 13 and people planning to object must submit details to the electoral commission by May 4.