Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

Where, on a day (in this section referred to as the relevant day) on which the Governor‑General causes writs (in this section referred to as the writs) for a general election to be issued, the number (in this section referred to as the present entitlement of the State) of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen in a State at the general election differs from the number (in this section referred to as the previous entitlement of the State) of Divisions in accordance with which the State is for the time being distributed, a redistribution of the State into Divisions shall take place under this section.

For the purposes of the redistribution, the Electoral Commissioner and the Australian Electoral Officer for the State shall be the Redistribution Commissioners for the State.

Forthwith after the issue of the writs, the Redistribution Commissioners for the State shall, subject to subsections (4) and (5):

in a case where the present entitlement of the State is greater than the previous entitlement of the State:

prepare a list of all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions in the State;

ascertain the number of electors enrolled in each possible pair of contiguous Divisions;

set aside the pair of contiguous Divisions that has the greatest number of electors enrolled;

if the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State is 2—delete from the list all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions containing a Division included in the pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of subparagraph (iii) and set aside the pair of contiguous Divisions remaining on the list that has the greatest number of electors enrolled; and

if the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State is greater than 2—continue successively deleting from the list all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions containing a Division included in a pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of subparagraph (iv) or of this subparagraph, and setting aside the pair of contiguous Divisions remaining on the list that has the greatest number of electors enrolled, until the number of pairs of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of this paragraph is equal to the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State; and

in a case where the present entitlement of the State is less than the previous entitlement of the State:

prepare a list of all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions in the State;

ascertain the number of electors enrolled in each possible pair of contiguous Divisions;

set aside the pair of contiguous Divisions that has the smallest number of electors enrolled;

if the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State is 2—delete from the list all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions containing a Division included in the pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of subparagraph (iii) and set aside the pair of contiguous Divisions remaining on the list that has the smallest number of electors enrolled; and

if the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State is greater than 2—continue successively deleting from the list all possible pairs of contiguous Divisions containing a Division included in a pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of subparagraph (iv) or of this subparagraph, and setting aside the pair of contiguous Divisions remaining on the list that has the smallest number of electors enrolled, until the number of pairs of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of this paragraph is equal to the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State.

Where, on or remaining on a list prepared in pursuance of paragraph (3)(a), there are 2 or more pairs of contiguous Divisions (in this subsection referred to as the relevant pairs of contiguous Divisions) that have the same number of electors enrolled and there is no other pair of contiguous Divisions that has a greater number of electors enrolled, the pair of contiguous Divisions to be set aside in pursuance of that paragraph shall be determined from amongst the relevant pairs of contiguous Divisions by lot.

Where, on or remaining on a list prepared in pursuance of paragraph (3)(b), there are 2 or more pairs of contiguous Divisions (in this subsection referred to as the relevant pairs of contiguous Divisions) that have the same number of electors enrolled and there is no other pair of contiguous Divisions that has a smaller number of electors enrolled, the pair of contiguous Divisions to be set aside in pursuance of that paragraph shall be determined from amongst the relevant pairs of contiguous Divisions by lot.

The Redistribution Commissioners shall, in accordance with subsections (8) to (12) (inclusive), determine, by instrument in writing, the names and boundaries of the Electoral Divisions into which the State is to be distributed, and those Electoral Divisions shall, until altered by a determination under this subsection or subsection 73(1), be the Divisions in the State.

The Redistribution Commissioners shall make a determination under subsection (6) as soon as practicable after they have, in accordance with subsection (3), set aside a number of pairs of contiguous Divisions in the State equal to the difference between the present entitlement of the State and the previous entitlement of the State and, in any event, before the expiration of the period of 7 days after the relevant day.

The names and boundaries of the Divisions not included in a pair of contiguous Divisions set aside under subsection (3) shall not be altered.

Where the present entitlement of the State is greater than the previous entitlement of the State, each pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of paragraph (3)(a) shall be distributed into 3 Electoral Divisions in the following manner:

the Population Census Collection Districts in the pair of contiguous Divisions, or the parts of such Districts that are within those Divisions, in the pair of contiguous Divisions shall be the basis for the redistribution and shall be allocated amongst the 3 Electoral Divisions without alteration;

each Electoral Division shall, as far as practicable, contain the same number of electors enrolled;

except in so far as discontinuous or separate boundaries are necessary for the purpose of including an island in an Electoral Division, the boundaries of each Electoral Division shall form an unbroken line.

The 3 Electoral Divisions so formed from the pair of contiguous Divisions shall, as far as practicable, be named in the following manner:

the Electoral Division that contains the greatest number of electors who were enrolled in one of the Divisions included in the pair of contiguous Divisions shall be given the name of that Division;

the Electoral Division that contains the greatest number of electors who were enrolled in the other Division included in the pair of contiguous Divisions shall be given the name of that other Division;

the Electoral Division remaining to be named after the application of paragraphs (a) and (b) shall have a name consisting of the names of each Division included in the pair of contiguous Divisions arranged in alphabetical order and hyphenated.

Where the present entitlement of the State is less than the previous entitlement of the State, each pair of contiguous Divisions set aside in pursuance of paragraph (3)(b) shall be distributed into one Electoral Division.

The Electoral Division so formed from the pair of contiguous Divisions shall have a name consisting of the names of each Division included in the pair of contiguous Divisions arranged in alphabetical order and hyphenated.

The Redistribution Commissioners shall, forthwith after the making of the determination under subsection (6):

forward to the Minister a copy of the determination; and

cause a copy of the determination to be published forthwith in the Gazette and in 2 newspapers circulating throughout the State.

The Minister shall cause copies of the determination to be laid before each House of the Parliament within 5 sitting days of that House after he or she receives a copy of the determination.

The number of electors enrolled in each pair of contiguous Divisions in the State and in each Subdivision in each Division in the State shall, in so far as it is necessary to do so for the purposes of this section, be ascertained using only the last statement published under subsection 58(1) before the relevant day.

Two Divisions in a State shall be taken, for the purposes of this section, to be contiguous Divisions if the boundaries of the Divisions actually touch in at least one place.

This section applies to the Australian Capital Territory as if:

except in subsection (2), a reference to the Australian Electoral Officer for a State were a reference to the Electoral Commissioner; and

subsection (2) were omitted and the following subsection substituted:

In this section, Population Census Collection District means an area designated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as a Population Census Collection District for the purposes of the taking of the Census.