Everything about Divisions Of The Australian House Of Representatives totally explained
The
Australian House of Representatives is elected from 150 single-member districts called
Divisions. They are also commonly known as
electorates or
seats. The British term "constituencies" is rarely used.
Apportionment
Divisions are apportioned among the
states and territories of Australia in accordance with section 24 of the
Australian Constitution and the
Electoral Act Generally, apportionment among the states and territories is based on population, with the following provisos:
- Each original state must have at least 5 Members of Parliament (a provision that gives Tasmania more representation than its population would suggest)
- The Northern Territory is allocated slightly more representation under recent legislative amendments
- The Constitution mandates that the House of Representatives should be approximately twice as large as the Senate
Within each state and territory, boundaries must be redrawn in a process known as
redistribution at least once every 7 years, or when the state's entitlement to the number of MPs change. Boundaries are drawn by Redistribution Committee, and apportionment within a state is on the basis of the number of
enrolled voters rather than total residents.
Within a state or territory, the number of enrolled voters in each Division can not vary by more than 10% from the average across the state, nor can the number of voters vary by more than 3.5% from the average projected enrolment three-and-a-half years into the future.
Naming
The Divisions of the House of Representatives are unusual in that many of them are not named after geographical features, as is the case in most other legislatures around the world. Most Divisions are named in honour of prominent historical people, such as former politicians (often
Prime Ministers), explorers, artists and engineers.
In some cases where a Division is named after a geographical locality, the connection to that locality is sometimes tenuous. For instance, the
Division of Werriwa, created in 1901, was named after the Aboriginal word for
Lake George in the
Canberra region. However, Werriwa hasn't contained Lake George for many decades, and has steadily moved some 200km north to the south-western suburbs of Sydney over the past century.
The redistribution, creation and abolition of Divisions is the responsiblity of the
Australian Electoral Commission. Some of the criteria the AEC use when naming new Divisions are listed below:
Divisions should be named after deceased Australians who have rendered outstanding service to their country, with consideration given to former Prime Ministers
The original names of Divisions proclaimed at Federation in 1901 should be retained
Geographical place names should be avoided
Aboriginal names should be used where appropriate
Names of state electoral districts shouldn't be duplicated
List of Commonwealth Electoral Divisions, 2007-2010
The maps below show the Division boundaries as they existed at the 24 November 2007 House of Representatives election. The maps show each Division as being held by a particular party.
New South Wales
There are 49 Divisions:
Victoria
There are 37 Divisions:
Queensland
There are 29 Divisions:
Western Australia
There are 15 Divisions:
Brand
Canning
Cowan
Curtin
Forrest
Fremantle
Hasluck
Kalgoorlie
Moore
O'Connor
Pearce
Perth
Stirling
Swan
Tangney
South Australia
There are 11 Divisions:
Adelaide
Barker
Boothby
Grey
Hindmarsh
Kingston
Makin
Mayo
Port Adelaide
Sturt
Wakefield
Tasmania
There are 5 Divisions:
Bass
Braddon
Denison
Franklin
Lyons
The Territories
Australian Capital Territory
There are 2 Divisions:
Canberra
Fraser (also covers Jervis Bay Territory)
Northern Territory
There are 2 Divisions:
Lingiari (also covers Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands)
Solomon
Abolished Divisions
These Australian electoral divisions no longer exist.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Divisions Of The Australian House Of Representatives'.
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