AEC draft proposal a win for ‘people power’
Posted April 13, 2018
Mayo remains largely untouched in the Australian Electoral Commission’s proposed redraw of South Australia’s electorates in a move the local Federal Member Rebekha Sharkie has described as a win for “people power”.
“I’m pleased that the AEC has listened to the 195 members of our community who made submissions to the redistribution process to keep Mayo as an electorate,” Rebekha said.
“This was an unusually large number of submissions for a redistribution process and to have more than 90 per cent of the 211 total submissions argue in favour of keeping our electorate largely intact speaks volumes about the depth of feeling about our identity.”
Under the AEC’s draft redistribution South Australia loses one of its 11 seats – Port Adelaide.
If the AEC proposal goes ahead, residents in that electorate will be divided up into the neighbouring seats of Makin, Hindmarsh and the newly named electorate of Spence, formerly known as Wakefield.
The boundaries of Mayo have been altered in the north and the south-west with the number of electors increasing from 106,191 voters to around 120,000.
Mayo will lose electors from;
- The Barossa Council, including the towns of Springton and Mount Pleasant;
- The suburb of Seaford Heights and part of Happy Valley, which move to the proposed Division of Kingston;
- Part of the suburbs of Rostrevor, Teringie and Woodforde which move to the proposed Division of Sturt.
Mayo will gain electors from;
- The suburbs of Coromandel Valley, Craigburn Farm and Hawthorndene from the Division of Boothby;
- The suburbs of Aldinga Beach, Port Willunga and Sellicks Beach and part of Aldinga from the Division of Kingston.
Rebekha said the AEC proposal was a measured approach to the difficult issue of abolishing a seat while still maintaining the political status quo and protecting community interests.
“It was a sad day for South Australia when we learned last year that our declining population meant we were going to lose a seat,” she said.
“Then when there was speculation on the ABC’s Insiders program from representatives from the Major Parties that Mayo would be the logical seat to go, that caused deep concern among my community.
“It was an issue that came up again and again at community events I attended across the electorate so it came as no surprise to me that we had such a strong local response to the AEC’s public submissions process.
“Mayo is an incredibly cohesive community, linked by communal ties stretching all throughout the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island.
“It did not make sense for our community to be represented by an MP based in metropolitan Adelaide, and I am happy that the redistribution committee has elected to keep Mayo as an electorate.
I look forward to visiting the new areas of the electorate and speaking to members of the community about the issues they face.”
South Australians have until 11 May 2018 to comment on the proposed redistribution. A final report is expected to be sent to Parliament for endorsement in July.
