April 29, 2019
South Burnett residents living in Divisions 4, 5 and 6 have less than three weeks to make suggestions about minor boundary changes being proposed ahead of next year’s Council elections.
A recent review of divisional boundaries found population growth on the northern side of Kingaroy since the 2016 elections has pushed Division 4 near its upper quota limit.
Under the Local Government Act, the South Burnett’s six Council divisions have a quota of 3800 voters each – roughly one-sixth the region’s total voting population – with a lower limit of 3420 and an upper limit of 4180 (ie plus or minus 10 per cent).
A key aim of the quota system is to ensure the value of each vote is roughly equal across all Divisions at Council elections.
It also ensures all residents have a similar level of access to their local Councillor, and the workload is spread fairly equally across all Councillors.
At present, Division 6 (from Crawford to Wondai, including Kumbia, Burrandowan and Durong) is close to 3 per cent above quota.
Division 4 (Kingaroy North) is almost 10 per cent above quota, and Division 5 (Murgon to Proston and Boondooma) is the division with lowest population.
At February’s Council meeting, CEO Mark Pitt recommended minor boundary changes in Divisions 4, 5 and 6 to bring all three closer to the centre of the quota range.
Those recommendations were sent to Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliff, who forwarded them on to the Local Government Change Commission.
The Change Commission is now calling on South Burnett residents who have suggestions about how they would like to see boundary changes made to lodge a written submission by 5:00pm on Monday, May 13.
A spokesperson for the Change Commission told southburnett.com.au while a key aim of any changes was to ensure “one vote, one value”, the Commission respected local knowledge and could take this into account when drawing up new boundaries.
It would try not to disrupt natural communities of interest, and if there were landmarks, roads or other things which could help mark boundaries, these were matters that could also be taken into consideration.
The Commission said the call for suggestions was only a step in the process, but not the final one.
When the proposed new boundaries are drawn up the public would have the opportunity to suggest changes before they come into effect.
Further information – including maps of the South Burnett’s current divisions – is available on the Electoral Commission of Queensland website
- Related article: Review Suggests Changes To Divisions
[UPDATED with corrections]
