Bill Shorten yet to decide on whether to recontest Maribyrnong or switch to new Fraser seat

BILL Shorten has vowed to recontest a seat in Melbourne’s northwest but has yet to decide if it will be Maribyrnong or the proposed new electorate of Fraser.

BILL Shorten has vowed to recontest a seat in Melbourne’s northwest but has yet to decide if it will be Maribyrnong or the proposed new electorate of Fraser.

A proposed shake-up of Victoria’s federal electorate boundaries would see up to a third of Fraser made up of voters from the current seat of Maribyrnong, where Mr Shorten has been the local member since 2007.

REDISTRIBUTION TO WIPE OUT TURNBULL’S ONE-SEAT MAJORITY

SHORTEN URGED TO SHIFT ELECTORATES

He said the proposed changes had effectively cut his seat in half.

“Half my voters are in one seat and half are in the other. I’ll wait and see what the final maps look like, and we will sort this out,” he said.

The proposed division of Fraser would absorb an estimated 38,613 projected voters from the Maribyrnong electorate in Braybrook, Kealba, St Albans and Sunshine North.

A projected 32,303 voters from Calwell and south of the Maribyrnong river — in Keilor, Keilor Downs, Keilor North and Keilor Lodge — would be moved to Fraser.

Objections to the redistribution need to be lodged by May 4 at [e-mail]