After months of consultation, the Australian Electoral Commission on Thursday finalised electoral boundaries in Victoria and Western Australia, where a new seat of Bullwinkel in the Perth hills will be contested.
The seat was named after Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, who was the sole survivor of the 1942 Bangka Island massacre of Australian nurses during World War II and was a prisoner of war for more than three years.
The names & boundaries of federal divisions in VIC have been finalised!— AEC ✏️ (@AusElectoralCom) As initially proposed in May, Higgins will be abolished with that division name retired. However, 11 divisions will have their boundaries changed from what was proposed.➡️ https://t.co/qyWVj5yetC pic.twitter.com/fihjET3LINSeptember 5, 2024
The redistribution comes as a result of WA's growing population, while population growth in Melbourne's inner suburbs has slowed relative to the rest of the country.
The suburbs previously making up Higgins will be swallowed up by surrounding electorates, with seats in Melbourne's suburban fringe shrinking in geographic size as their population swells.
Ms Ananda-Rajah won Higgins from the Liberals at the 2022 election with a slim two per cent margin.
Its abolition also means voters will be unable to cast their ballots for independents Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock, who intended to run for the seat together as part of a joint ticket.
Following consultation, the AEC made a number of minor alterations to the draft redistribution, including in the divisions of Ballarat, Bendigo and Chisholm in Victoria and Canning, Cowan, Fremantle and Tangney in WA.
Given the changes were not considered to be significant, no further input from the public will be sought.
The AEC says it will likely finalise electoral boundaries in NSW, where the independent-held seat of North Sydney is set to be abolished, by the end of next week.
