Higgins to go in federal seats shake-up

The Labor-held Victorian seat of Higgins is set to be abolished under a redistribution proposal announced on Friday, while a new seat in WA is seen as an ‘opportunity’ among Libs to win ground in the west.

Higgins Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah. Picture: Simone Schroeder

The Labor-held Victorian seat of Higgins is set to be abolished under a redistribution proposal announced on Friday, while a new seat in Western Australia is seen as an “opportunity” among Liberals to win ground in the west.

Higgins is held on a margin of just over 2 per cent by first-time MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah, who said she was “obviously disappointed” by the Australian Electoral Commission proposal.

“This is a draft proposal and there is now a process to go through. We will have more to say once that process is complete,” Dr Ananda-Rajah said.

“In the meantime, I remain a proud member of the Albanese Labor government serving in the national interest, and a voice for the people of Higgins.”

However, the proposed removal of Higgins prompted concern within the opposition as well, with party sources saying there had been hope that former Liberal member Katie Allen would win it back at the next election.

Ms Allen urged Victorians to “have their voice heard” and fight against the AEC proposal.

“Now is the time, get on emails, get pen to paper and fight for this. These are draft boundaries, there have been plenty of historical precedents where they have been fully overturned or partly overturned,” she told Sky News.

“Peter Costello, Harold Holt, John Gorton, Kelly O’Dwyer, these are all fabulous members of parliament, this is a historical seat, this is an important seat.”

University of Melbourne honorary associate Adrian Beaumont said that, overall, the redistributions announced on Friday “slightly help Labor”, given the abolishment of Higgins was “compensated” by changes to the seat of Menzies and Deakin. Liberal sources said Menzies and Deakin would be “tough” for the party at the next election, but were hopeful changes to the Goldstein and Kooyong boundaries could see a swing back to the Coalition from the teals.

Despite Mr Beaumont finding the new WA seat – which will be named Bullwinkel after Australian World War II nurse Vivian Bullwinkel – would be “notionally Labor”, several Liberal sources said they were confident they could win it.

“On 2019 campaign result, that’s the seat we would pick up,” a senior Liberal said. “On the 2022 campaign results it’d be a 3.3 per cent Labor seat. So it will certainly be a target seat at the next ­election.

“If Labor were at a high-water mark at the last election, then there’s certainly an opportunity to go for that seat.”

While the current boundaries see teal independent Monique Ryan hold a margin in Kooyong of nearly 3 per cent against the Liberals, analysts predicted the redistribution would reduce that margin to less than 2 per cent.

However, senior Liberals hosed down the possibility of former Kooyong MP Josh Frydenberg recontesting, with the former treasurer having made clear he had no intention of running at the next election.

A senior Labor source said the AEC proposed redistribution was “a mixed bag for everyone”, though “probably worse than the Liberals than Labor”.

Despite some Labor MPs expressing concerns about the outcome for WA at the next election without the influence of the overwhelmingly popular Mark McGowan, others said the party was still “feeling very good” about its chances at holding all of the new Labor seats.