By Raquel Mustillo
A PROPOSED alteration to the northern boundary of MacKillop will unnecessarily displace 35,000 electors across South Australia according to the State Liberals, with the party supporting an expansion to Tarpeena as part of a compulsory redistribution.
The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission has proposed expanding the 25,312km district to include Pinnaroo, Lameroo and Tailem Bend as a result of declining population rates in the sprawling electorate comparative to the rest of the state.
Despite being South Australia’s fourth largest area geographically, MacKillop currently has 23,686 total voters – which is under the permissible quota by .8pc – and must have a boundary adjustment before the 2022 polls.
In a submission to the commission, the Liberal Party said the draft boundaries provide an alteration to MacKillop which would result in a domino effect across seven regional areas and displace 35,000 electors.
“3177 voters are unnecessarily displaced from Hammond into MacKillop,” the submission says.
“The Liberal Party submits that change should be undone.”
An earlier submission by the Liberal Party supported minor surgery to MacKillop by moving the southern boundary to take in Tarpeena, Mingbool and Pleasant Park, as well as a pocket near the Murray Mouth at the north of the electorate.
“The submission demonstrated a way… MacKillop could have a net total gain of 265 current voters to accommodate the current quota tolerances of both surroudning electorates as well as this electorate,” the April submission says.
The expansion to the Southern Mallee has been labelled as “nonsense” by former long-time MacKillop MP Mitch Williams, who said “once MacKillop expands beyond Ngarkat Conservation Park, it not only becomes unserviceable, it becomes impossible to represent”.
Member for MacKilllop Nick McBride said while it was his preference to expand north, the electoral commission had “gone to the nth degree” to increase the number of voters in the district.
“Although I am on the lower side and below the 10pc threshold, the boundaries commission has increased the number of voters by 3000,” he said.
“I do think the boundaries commission could have moved the boundaries to include 1400 electors because I still would have been within the permissible range.
“I have a preference not to go down south, but these proposals will make MacKillop a very large electorate and may require a staff member to occupy an office in the northern part of the electorate.
“When you travel the Ngarkat Highway and leave Bordertown, it feels like a whole new region.”
Mr McBride said the shrinking population rates relative to the rest of South Australia was problematic, noting the neighbouring electorate of Hammond – which was centered around Murray Bridge – would include Mount Barker under the draft boundaries.
He said the State Government had “turned the tide and put regions on the radar”, but conceded “they could and should be doing even more”.
“If the regions don’t grow, we are going to lose our voice and seats in the state parliament,” he said.
“We are already seeing country seats expand into the metropolitan areas, like Hammond turning into a peri-urban seat and entering Mount Barker.
“The regions have a huge opportunity from the COVID-19 pandemic as we have had more freedoms and stayed clear of cases compared to large city areas.
“There are business and industries crying out for more staff in Keith, Tintinara, Naracoorte and Bordertown, but we know there is a shortage of houses in these areas.
“Parliament is a slow moving wheel and is very hard to turn around, but I think the Liberal and Labor Party have had strong acknowledgement of the regions and have seen some of the opportunities which will not only benefit Adelaide, but also the regions.”
The Liberal Party was contacted for comment.
