Labor targets Attorney-General Christian Porter in federal seat shake-up

Attorney-General Christian Porter’s West Australian electorate is under attack from WA Labor, who want it essentially abolished in a major shake up of seats.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Christian Porter during Question Time. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Attorney-General Christian Porter’s West Australian electorate of Pearce is under fire from WA Labor, who want it abolished in a major shake-up of the state’s federal seats.

WA is set to lose one parliamentary seat in Canberra because of decreasing population and Labor and the state Liberals have put up competing proposals to the Australian Electoral ­Commission.

With Labor likely to gain a seat in Victoria’s electoral redistribution, the WA Liberals hope their proposal to abolish the ALP seat of Cowan will stop a further Coalition loss in the west and prevent Scott Morrison going to the next election with a parliamentary minority.

A submission from WA Labor state secretary Tim Picton to the ALP review into the state’s electoral boundaries calls for Pearce — the highest populated seat in WA — to be abolished, with its constituents being divided into two other existing seats.

“The growth suburbs in the northern outer suburban parts of metropolitan Perth have, over time, seen disparate communities on the urban fringe fall within the division of Pearce,” the ALP submission states. “This has resulted in (it) becoming significantly over quota, while the other northern and eastern divisions are significantly under quota.

“The division of Pearce spans both Perth’s northern and eastern metropolitan suburbs, peri-urban communities and adjacent rural areas. These are three distinct communities that share little community of interest and few services.”

Pearce’s coastal areas would be put into Liberal backbencher Ian Goodenough’s seat of Moore, and the Perth Hills sections of Pearce would be brought into a wider redraft of Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt’s electorate of Hasluck.

Mr Porter is considered by some Liberals as a future leadership contender and WA Labor’s proposal would set up a potential preselection battle between him and cabinet colleague Mr Wyatt or backbencher Mr Goodenough to stay in parliament.

WA Liberals state director Sam Calabrese’s submission suggests Labor MP Anne Aly’s seat of Cowan be abolished as it is surrounded by five other electorates below AEC population quotas.