FEDERAL ELECTORATES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 201, 20 May 1921, Page 5

FEDERAL ELECTORATES

REDISTRIBUTION EXPECTED. ' When the last Commonwealth census was taken in 1911 (states the "Argus," Melbourne), New .South Wales gained an additional representative in the Federal Parliament, and Victoria lost one. Those who have watched the population figures closely predict that history will repeat itself before the next elections, and that South Australia will also have to surrender a Federal electorate, While Queensland will gain one. Until the Commonwealth Statistician’s staff have completed their task, computations must necessarily bo taken on trust; but the indications are that the prophets have estimated the position fairly accurately. At present New South Wales has 27 members in the House of Representatives; Victoria has 21, Queensland 10, South Australia 7, and Western Australia and Tasmania 5 each.

It is expected that the census figures will be available in June., and special commissions of experts will' then be appointed in each State to go into the whole question of redistribution. If New South Wales is to have 28 represen. tatives, it is thought that the additional electorates will be in the metropolitan area, which has expanded very rapidly during the last few years, at the expense of the country. It has not always been possible in that State to make coin''munitv of interests the determining factor absolutely. In Illawarra, for instance. there is at one end a large metropolitan section, and at the other a farming community, with a coal-mining district in the centre. Nepean is another electorate where rural and metropolitan electors share the same representation. In these cases there is little community of intei-est, but of the many suggestions made for obtaining a more satisfactory distribution, none has been deemed practicable.

The number of representatives to which each State is entitled is determined by its population, excepting in the case of Tasmania and Western Australia, which were given two additional electorates at the time of federation. The formula provided in the Representation Act is, briefly: The total population of the Commonwealth is divided by 72—twice the number of senators —and the resultant figure represents the quota for each electorate. That quota, is then divided info the population of each State, and the quotient represents the number of electorates for that State. Thus, if tho IMinulation of the Commonwealth was 5.760,000, each electorate would comprise l-72nd part of that number, or 80,000 people. The number of times the population of Victoria could be divided bv 80,000 would therefore represent tho number of its representatives. The .formula is designed to ensure that the number of members of the House of Representatives shall bo as nearly as possible double the number of senators. Where, after the division has been made, tho remainder exceeds half a quota, an additional representative is allowed. The euota in any electorate may be exceeded or reduced by one-fifth in cases where circumstances justify it, nnd this has been found necessary in some cases.