User:Thomas James Foster/List of Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives

Electoral divisions for the Australian House of Representatives are commonly known as electorates, seats or divisions. There are currently 150 single-member electorates for the Australian House of Representatives.

Apportionment

Section 24 of the Constitution of Australia requires that the total number of members of the Australian House of Representatives shall be "as nearly as practicable" twice as many as the number of members of the Australian Senate.

Section 24 also requires that electorates be apportioned among the states in proportion to their respective populations; provided that each original state has at least 5 members in the House of Representatives, a provision that gives Tasmania higher representation than its population would justify.

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 sets out further provisions. There are also two electorates in both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

Within each state and territory, electoral boundaries are redrawn from time to time in a process known as redistribution. This takes place at least once every 7 years, or when the state's entitlement to the number of members of the House of Representatives changes. Boundaries are drawn by a Redistribution Committee, and apportionment within a state is on the basis of the number of enrolled voters rather than total residents.

The number of enrolled voters in each Division cannot vary by more than 10% from the average across a state or territory, 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. However, due to various reasons, larger seats like Fenner contain more than double the electors of smaller seats like Lingiari.

Divisions are divided into four classes according to population and demographic: inner metropolitan (well-established portions of a state capital city), outer metropolitan (more recently developed portions of a state capital), provincial (divisions made up predominantly of regional cities) and rural.

Naming

The Divisions of the House of Representatives are unusual in that many of them are not named after geographical features or numbered, 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 has not contained Lake George for many decades, and has steadily moved some 200 km north to the south-western suburbs of Sydney over the past century.

The redistribution, creation and abolition of Divisions is the responsibility of the Australian Electoral Commission. Some of the criteria the AEC use when naming new Divisions are listed below:

• Name divisions after deceased Australians who have rendered outstanding service to their country, with consideration given to former Prime Ministers
• Retain the original names of Divisions proclaimed at Federation in 1901
• Avoid geographical place names
• Where appropriate use Aboriginal names
• Do not duplicate names of state electoral districts

List of Current Divisions

The list below shows all Divisions that existed at the Australian federal election, 2016.

Division	Map	State or Territory	Created	Held By	Area (km²)	Electors
Adelaide		South Australia	1903	Kate Ellis (Labor)	76	102,918
Aston		Victoria	1984	Alan Tudge (Liberal)	99	94,112
Ballarat		Victoria	1901	Catherine King (Labor)	4,562	103,296
Banks		New South Wales	1949	David Coleman (Liberal)	53	104,959
Barker		South Australia	1903	Tony Pasin (Liberal)	63,886	103,321
Barton		New South Wales	1922	Nickolas Varvaris (Liberal)	40	106,566
Bass		Tasmania	1903	Andrew Nikolic (Liberal)	7,278	72,195
Batman		Victoria	1906	David Feeney (Labor)	66	103,012
Bendigo		Victoria	1901	Lisa Chesters (Labor)	6,255	102,934
Bennelong		New South Wales	1949	John Alexander (Liberal)	60	106,005
Berowra		New South Wales	1969	Philip Ruddock (Liberal)	786	105,292
Blair	File:Division of Blair 2013.png	Queensland	1998	Shayne Neumann (Labor)	6,409	88,656
'Blaxland	File:Division of Blaxland 2013.png	New South Wales	1949	Jason Clare (Labor)	61	103,539
Bonner	File:Division of Bonner 2013.png	Queensland	2004	Ross Vasta (Liberal Nation)	360	95,317
Boothby	File:Division of Boothby 2013.png	South Australia	1903	Andrew Southcott (Liberal)	130	103,987
Bowman	File:Division of Bowman 2013.png	Queensland	1949	Andrew Laming (Liberal Nation)	537	95,874
Braddon		Tasmania	1955	Brett Whiteley (Liberal)	20,826	71,677
Bradfield		New South Wales	1949	Paul Fletcher (Liberal)	101	105,735
Brand	File:Division of Brand 2013.png	Western Australia	1984	David Brand (Labor)	377	90,093
Brisbane		Queensland	1901	Teresa Gambaro (Liberal Nation)	58	97,203
Bruce		Victoria	1955	Alan Griffith (Labor)	73	94,817
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List of Commonwealth Electoral Divisions, 2016–present

The maps below show the Division boundaries as they existed at the Australian federal election, 2016.

New South Wales

There are 47 Divisions:

Banks Barton Bennelong Berowra Blaxland Bradfield Calare Chifley Cook Cowper Cunningham Dobell Eden-Monaro Farrer

Fowler Gilmore Grayndler Greenway Hughes Hume Hunter Kingsford Smith Lindsay Lyne Macarthur Mackellar Macquarie McMahon

Mitchell New England Newcastle North Sydney Page Parkes Parramatta Paterson Reid Richmond Riverina Robertson Shortland Sydney

Warringah Watson Wentworth Werriwa Whitlam

Due to changing demographics, New South Wales will lose one seat in the House of Representatives as of the 2016 federal election. The redistribution will involve extensive changes to existing boundaries, with approximately 20% of voters in New South Wales being moved into a new electorate. The AEC's initial proposal called for the Division of Hunter to be abolished, with its voters absorbed into the neighboring electorates of Charlton, New England, and Paterson. Due to the AEC's practice of giving preference to the names of the so-called 'Federation divisions,' those contested at the first federal election in 1901, Charlton was to have been renamed Hunter.

Further, the Division of Throsby will be renamed Whitlam, after former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, part of another AEC practice of honouring deceased Prime Ministers with electoral divisions.

The final map, however, saw Charlton abolished, with Hunter moving eastward to absorb most of Charlton's territory. The name change from Throsby to Whitlam remained in effect.

Victoria

Electoral divisions: Melbourne area

Electoral divisions: Outside Melbourne area

Electoral divisions: Rest of Victoria

There are 37 Divisions:

Aston Ballarat Batman Bendigo Bruce Calwell Casey Chisholm Corangamite Corio Deakin Dunkley Flinders Gellibrand Gippsland

Goldstein Gorton Higgins Holt Hotham Indi Isaacs Jagajaga Kooyong Lalor La Trobe McEwen McMillan Mallee Maribyrnong

Melbourne Melbourne Ports Menzies Murray Scullin Wannon Wills

Queensland

There are 30 Divisions:

Electoral divisions: Brisbane area

Electoral divisions: Outside Brisbane area

Electoral divisions: Rest of Queensland

Blair Bonner Bowman Brisbane Capricornia Dawson Dickson Fadden Fairfax Fisher Flynn Forde Griffith Groom Herbert

Hinkler Kennedy Leichhardt Lilley Longman Maranoa McPherson Moncrieff Moreton Oxley Petrie Rankin Ryan Wide Bay Wright

Western Australia

There are 16 Divisions:

Electoral divisions: Inner Perth area

Electoral divisions: Outer Perth area

Electoral divisions: Rest of Western Australia

• Burt
• Brand
• Canning
• Cowan
• Curtin
• Durack
• Forrest
• Fremantle
• Hasluck
• Moore
• O'Connor
• Pearce
• Perth
• Stirling
• Swan
• Tangney

Due to Western Australia's growing population, the state has gained a 16th seat in the Australian House of Representatives as of the 2016 federal election. The Australian Electoral Commission has proclaimed the 16th seat the Division of Burt, named after one of Western Australia's most prominent legal families, and three members thereof in particular:

• Sir Archibald Burt (1810–1879), the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia,
• Septimus Burt (1847–1919), Attorney-General of Western Australia during the colonial period, and
• Sir Francis Burt (1918–2004), Governor of Western Australia from 1990 until 1993.

Burt is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Perth, and has been created out of portions of the neighbouring divisions of Canning, Hasluck and Tangney, and a small portion of Swan.

Based on the results of the 2013 federal election, the new electorate of Burt is notionally a Liberal seat, with a TPP margin of 5.2 percent.

South Australia

There are 11 Divisions:

Electoral divisions: Adelaide area

Electoral divisions: Rest of South Australia

• 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
• Fenner (also covers Jervis Bay Territory)

Prior to the 2016 federal election, the Division of Fenner was known as the Division of Fraser. The new name honours the Australian virologist Frank Fenner (1914–2010), and the change was due to plans by the Australian Electoral Commission to name a Victorian electorate after former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser when that state next undergoes an electoral redistribution.

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.

• Angas (1903–34) (SA)
• Angas (1949–77) (SA)
• Australian Capital Territory (1949–74) (ACT)
• Balaclava (1901–84) (VIC)
• Barrier (1901–22) (NSW)
• Bland (1901–06) (NSW)
• Bonython (1955–2004) (SA)
• Bourke (1901–49) (VIC)
• Burke (1949–55) (VIC)
• Burke (1969–2004) (VIC)
• Canobolas (1901–06) (NSW)
• Cook (1906–55) (NSW)
• Coolgardie (1901–13) (WA)
• Corinella (1901–06) (VIC)
• Corinella (1990–96) (VIC)
• Dalley (1901–69) (NSW)
• Dampier (1913–22) (WA)
• Darebin (1949–69) (VIC)
• Darling (1901–77) (NSW)
• Darling Downs (1901–84) (QLD)
• Darwin (1903–55) (TAS)
• Diamond Valley (1969–84) (VIC)
• Dundas (1977–93) (NSW)
• East Sydney (1901–69) (NSW)
• Echuca (1901–37) (VIC)
• Evans (1949–77) (NSW)
• Fawkner (1906–69) (VIC)
• Grampians (1901–22) (VIC)
• Gwydir (1901–2007) (NSW)
• Hawker (1969–93) (SA)
• Henty (1913–90) (VIC)
• Higinbotham (1949–69) (VIC)
• Hoddle (1949–55) (VIC)
• Illawarra (1901–22) (NSW)
• Isaacs (1949–69) (VIC)
• Kalgoorlie (1901–2010) (WA)
• Laanecoorie (1901–13) (VIC)
• Lang (1901–77) (NSW)
• Lawson (1949–69) (NSW)
• Lowe (1949–2010) (NSW)
• Martin (1922–55) (NSW)
• Mernda (1901–13) (VIC)
• Moira (1901–06) (VIC)
• Namadgi (1996–98) (ACT)
• Nepean (1906–22) (NSW)
• Northern Melbourne (1901–06) (VIC)
• Northern Territory (1922–2001) (NT)
• Oxley (1901–34) (QLD)
• Parkes (1901–69) (NSW)
• Phillip (1949–93) (NSW)
• Prospect (1969–2010) (NSW)
• Riverina-Darling (1984–93) (NSW)
• Scullin (1955–69) (VIC)
• South Australia (1901–03) (SA)
• South Sydney (1901–34) (NSW)
• Southern Melbourne (1901–06) (VIC)
• St George (1949–93) (NSW)
• Streeton (1984–90) (VIC)
• Tasmania (1901–03) (TAS)
• Throsby (1984-2016) (NSW)
• Watson (1934–69) (NSW)
• West Sydney (1901–69) (NSW)
• Wilmot (1903–84) (TAS)
• Wimmera (1901–77) (VIC)
• Yarra (1901–69) (VIC)

See also

• For a list of members of the current House of Representatives and the electorates they represent, see List of members of the Australian House of Representatives.
• For a description of how the House of Representatives is elected, see Australian electoral system.

External links

• For an electoral history of each Division since Federation in 1901, see Adam Carr's Electoral Archive: Index of House of Representatives Divisions 1901-2001