The draft Federal electoral boundaries for Western Australia released in March were finalised at the end of June.
Today the supporting documentation has been published, including the the new maps and enrolment data. That allows me to calculate estimated margins for the new boundaries. There are only minor changes compared to the draft boundaries released in March.
The overall summary of the redistribution’s impact is that the Liberal held division of Stirling has been abolished. This has caused major changes to the boundaries of Cowan, Pearce and Hasluck, with smaller changes propagating across the rest of the state.
The re-drawn electorate of Cowan includes a roughly equal number of voters from the old Cowan and the abolished Stirling. Pearce has been completely re-arranged, losing its former rural component to Durack and O’Connor, and the rapidly growing suburban areas around Ellenbrook to Hasluck. Pearce is now based entirely in Perth’s northern suburbs.
The redistribution was triggered by last year’s determination of state representation in the House of Representatives as required by Section 24 of the Constitution and the Electoral Act. The determination was that Victoria gain a seat, increasing its number of members from 38 to 39 seats, and Western Australia be reduced from 16 to 15 seats. The redistributions are now complete for both states.
The table below sets out the old and new margins for all districts. Some of the major changes to boundaries have also been illustrated with maps.
All the technical details of the redistribution and maps can be found on the AEC website.
Brand
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | ALP 6.7 | MP: Madeleine King (Labor) Boundaries unchanged. |
| New | ALP 6.7 | |
Burt
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | ALP 5.0 | MP: Matt Keogh (Labor) Gains Beckenham, Kenwick and Maddington from Hasluck and smaller areas around Orange Grove and Gosnells from Canning. Loses Canning Vale to Tangney. |
| New | ALP 5.5 | |
Canning
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 11.6 | MP: Andrew Hastie (Liberal) Minor changes to the boundary with Burt in the north. Loses the rural Shire of Bodington to O’Connor. |
| New | LIB 11.6 | |
Cowan
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | ALP 0.8 | MP: Anne Aly (Labor) Undergoes major boundary changes due to the abolition of Stirling. Shifts south and gains around half of Stirling in the area bounded by Beach Road, Alexander Drive, Morley Drive and the Mitchell Freeway. Gains Noranda and parts of Morley from Perth. Loses all of the Wanneroo council areas north of Hepburn Avenue to Pearce. |
| New | ALP 0.9 | |
Curtin
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 14.3 | MP: Celia Hammond (Liberal) Gains parts of Trigg, Karrinyup and Gwelup in the north from Stirling. |
| New | LIB 13.9 | |
Durack
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 14.8 | MP: Melissa Price (Liberal) In the south gains all the rural areas of Pearce running in an arc from Lancelin through Toodyay and Northam to York. Loses the wheatbelt shires to the east of Northam and York to O’Connor. Also loses the remote Shire of Wiluna to O’Connor. |
| New | LIB 13.5 | |
Forrest
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 14.6 | MP: Nola Marino (Liberal) Loses around a thousand voters in Nannup Shire to O’Connor. |
| New | LIB 14.6 | |
Fremantle
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | ALP 6.9 | MP: Josh Wilson (Labor) Boundaries unchanged. |
| New | ALP 6.9 | |
Hasluck
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 5.4 | MP: Ken Wyatt (Liberal) Undergoes major changes. In the south it loses Kenwick and Maddington to Burt, and Maida Vale, Forrestfield and Wattle Grove to Swan. In the north Hasluck gains Bennett Springs from Cowan along with around 37,000 voters in the rapidly growing suburbs around Ellenbrook. |
| New | LIB 5.9 | |
Moore
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 11.7 | MP: Ian Goodenough (Liberal) In the south gains parts of Watermans Bay, North Beach, Trigg, Carine and Gwelup from Stirling. |
| New | LIB 11.6 | |
O’Connor
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 14.5 | MP: Rick Wilson (Liberal) Gains parts of the wheatbelt east of Northam and York from Durack. Gains the remote Shire of Wiluna from Durack, Beverley from Pearce, Boddington from Canning and Nannup from Forest. |
| New | LIB 15.4 | |
Pearce
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 7.5 | MP: Christian Porter (Liberal) Undergoes massive boundary changes, transformed from a mixed urban/rural division into a outer northern Perth seat. Loses rural areas north of Perth between Lancelin and Toodyay to Durack. Loses the Avon Valley of Northam and York to Durack and Beverley to O’Connor. Loses the rapidly growing Ellenbrook area to Hasluck. Gains all of the Wanneroo Council subrubs north of Hepburn Avenue from Cowan. |
| New | LIB 5.2 | |
Perth
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | ALP 4.9 | MP: Patrick Gorman (Labor) Gains parts of Tuart Hill, Yokine and Dianella south of Morley Drive from the abolished seat of Stirling. Loses Noranda and parts of Morley north of Morley Drive to Cowan. |
| New | ALP 3.2 | |
Stirling (Abolished)
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 5.6 | MP: Vince Connelly (Liberal) Areas west of the Mitchell Freeway have been divided between Curtin and Moore. Areas to the east and north of Morley Drive are now in Cowan, and areas to the south in Perth. |
| New | Abolished | |
Swan
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 2.7 | MP: Steve Irons (Liberal) Loses Wilson in the south to Tangney, and the seat’s boundaries now cross the Roe Highway and absorb Maida Vale, Forrestfield and Wattle Grove from Hasluck. |
| New | LIB 3.2 | |
Tangney
| % Margin | Notes on Changes | |
|---|---|---|
| Old | LIB 11.5 | MP: Ben Morton (Liberal) Gains Wilson from Swan and Canning Vale from Burt. |
| New | LIB 9.5 | |