South Australia set to lose an electorate on Thursday
SOUTH Australia is expected to learn today that it will lose a federal electorate, which Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne says is a symbol of the state’s “malaise”.
SOUTH Australia is expected to learn today that it will lose a federal electorate, which Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne says is a symbol of the state’s “malaise”.
SA has not been keeping up its share of population, so the Parliamentary Library has predicted it will go from 11 seats to 10, meaning less representation in Parliament.
The Australian Electoral Commission will today announce the headline figures, after which there will be a months-long process to determine which seat will go and how others will take its place.
Mr Pyne said it showed “a deep decline, a malaise in this state from a population point of view”.
“It’s very disappointing. When I was first elected in 1993, South Australia had the same number of seats as Western Australia, we both had 13 seats,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“Western Australia now has 16 and we will have 10.” “We are in decline as a state, we are going backwards in terms of population share and the state Labor government seems to be entirely complacent about that.”
But Premier Jay Weatherill said he was not about to chase population growth just to keep a seat in the federal parliament.
“I don’t run a high population growth strategy,” he said.
“I think we’re going just fine here. We’ve got modest population growth which means we can run a harmonious, peaceful, well-integrated society. “We have a policy of livability, of affordability, of having a peaceful and harmonious community. It’s one of the great South Australian strengths.” The loss of a federal seat would result in a redistribution of current electoral boundaries across SA.
- with AAP