VOTERS in the Balranald and Murray River municipalities are set to remain in the same federal electorate as Albury and Griffith.
A draft redistribution of NSW seats published by the Australian Electoral Commission on Friday opted to leave Farrer unchanged, despite a reshuffle in neighbouring electorates.
NSW and Victoria must each lose one seat this year, while one is added in Western Australia, due to changes in states’ share of the national population.
With NSW being split into 46 electorates instead of 47, the draft redistribution report said Farrer was 0.6 per cent above the statewide average as of August last year.
Farrer was forecast to be 1.8 per cent below average by April 2028, safely within an allowable forecast variance of plus or minus 3.5 per cent. However, all three of its bordering seats required extra voters.
The redistribution committee found that getting them from Farrer was “not the preferred option in balancing the numerical requirements of surrounding electoral divisions, and would not necessarily lead to improvements to communities of interest”.
Parkes, the state’s largest electorate, grew to include Forbes and the town that shares a name with the electorate.
Riverina shifted east to share a border with the ACT, while the coastal Eden-Monaro added Goul-burn.
Farrer, currently held by Liberal MP Sussan Ley, was projected to grow its enrolment of 121,734 people to 127,265 by 2028.
A suggestion by the NSW Nationals to change the name of Farrer to Farrer-Fischer, to honour former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, was not supported in the draft redistribution report.
North Sydney was the sole seat proposed for abolition.
Objections to the draft boundaries can be submitted through the AEC website until July 12.
Victoria’s draft redistribution, released a fortnight ago, proposed the Mallee electorate remain unchanged.
