Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives
A redistribution of federal electoral divisions will be required in Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers made the determination today based on the most recent official population figures for the Commonwealth published and provided to him by the Australian Statistician.
“The figures show the population has increased sufficiently to result in Victoria and the ACT each increasing their entitlement by one seat. At the same time, the entitlement for South Australia will decrease by one seat,” Mr Rogers said.
- Victoria: Increase from 37 to 38 seats
- ACT: Increase from two to three seats
- SA: Decrease from 11 to 10 seats
As a result of the determination the total number of members to be elected to the House of Representatives at the next federal election will increase from 150 to 151 members.
Mr Rogers said the Electoral Commission will meet tomorrow to direct the commencement of federal redistribution processes in Victoria, SA and the ACT.
“Redistribution Committees will be appointed and the public will soon be invited to make suggestions and comments on matters affecting the drawing of federal electoral boundaries and the naming of electoral divisions,” he said.
- The legislative processes to be adhered to, including the public submission periods, mean that redistribution processes take a number of months to complete. For more information regarding redistribution processes visitthe redistribution page.
Editor’s notes:
- A redistribution of electoral divisions is the process where electoral divisions and their boundaries and names are reviewed, and may be altered, to ensure, as near as practicable:
- each state and territory gains representation in the House of Representatives in proportion to its population, and
- there are a similar number of electors in each electoral division for a given state or territory.
- A determination under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 of the number of members of the House of Representatives each state and territory is entitled to is made each electoral cycle, one year after the first sitting day for a new House of Representatives (current Parliament: 30 August 2016).
- The attached information paper provides further information.
Information paper
Calculating representation entitlements of states and territories
Under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act), the Electoral Commissioner is required to use the latest official published statistics of the Commonwealth to ascertain the Australian population on the day after the one year anniversary of the first meeting of the House of Representatives. This date is 31 August 2017.
The Electoral Commissioner then makes a determination of the number of members of the House of Representatives each state is entitled to. A similar exercise is used to calculate the entitlements of the territories.
State and territory entitlements are calculated by dividing the total population figure for the Commonwealth, excluding territory populations, by twice the number of Senators for the states to obtain the population quota.
Population quota
| Total population of the six states | = | Population quota |
| Number of Senators for the states x 2 |
The population of each state and territory is then divided by the population quota, and the result rounded to the nearest whole number to determine the number of members of the House of the Representatives the state or territory is entitled to.
Number of House of Representatives members per state or territory
| Total population of individual state or territory | = | Number of members |
| Population quota |
Note: In calculating the number of members of the House of Representatives for a state or territory, if the remainder is more than 0.5, the figure for the number of members is rounded up. If the remainder is less than or equal to 0.5, the figure is rounded down (i.e. 2.5 = 2 members, and 2.52 = 3 members).
1. Population of the Commonwealth
The number of the people of the Commonwealth and of the several states and territories were ascertained to be as outlined in the table below.
| State/territory | Number of the people1 |
|---|---|
| States | |
| New South Wales | 7,797,791 |
| Victoria | 6,244,227 |
| Queensland | 4,883,739 |
| Western Australia | 2,567,788 |
| South Australia | 1,716,966 |
| Tasmania | 519,050 |
| Territories | |
| Australian Capital Territory23 | 419,256 |
| Northern Territory4 | 247,512 |
| Norfolk Island | 1,756 |
| The Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands | 550 |
| The Territory of Christmas Island | 1,914 |
| Australian Antarctic Territory | 57 |
| Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands | 0 |
| Coral Sea Islands Territory | 3 |
| Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands | 0 |
| The Commonwealth5 | 23,729,561 |
1This ascertainment has been made using statistics supplied to the Electoral Commissioner by the Australian Statistician on 28 July 2017 in accordance with section 47 of the Electoral Act and published in the Australian Demographic Statistics, December Quarter 2016 (ABS cat. no. 3101.0) on 27 June 2017.
2Under sub-section 4(1) of the Electoral Act, the Jervis Bay territory is taken to be part of the ACT.
3Pursuant to sub-section 48(2C) of the Electoral Act, as Norfolk Island is not entitled to a member of the House of Representatives, the population is added to the population of the Australian Capital Territory and the number of members of the House of Representatives to which the Australian Capital Territory is entitled is recalculated.
4Pursuant to sub-section 48(2C) of the Electoral Act, as the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island are not entitled to a member of the House of Representatives, the populations of both are added to the population of the Northern Territory and the number of members of the House of Representatives to which the Northern Territory is entitled is recalculated.
5Under section 45 of the Electoral Act the total number of people of the Commonwealth does not include the numbers of people of the territories.
2. The population quota
Under section 48(2)(a) of the Electoral Act, the population quota is the number of the people of the Commonwealth divided by twice the number of Senators for the states.
| Number of people of the Commonwealth (total population of the six states) | = | 23,729,561 |
| Twice the number of Senators for the states | = | 144 |
| Population quota | = | 164,788.61806 |
3. The entitlement determination
The number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen in each state and territory is determined by dividing the number of people in each state and territory by the quota and rounding the result to the nearest whole number.
| State/territory | Total population | Population quota | Result | Members | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 7,797,791 | 164,788.61806 | 47.31996 | 47 | - |
| Victoria | 6,244,227 | 164,788.61806 | 37.89234 | 38 | +1 |
| Queensland | 4,883,739 | 164,788.61806 | 29.63639 | 30 | - |
| Western Australia | 2,567,788 | 164,788.61806 | 15.58231 | 16 | - |
| South Australia | 1,716,966 | 164,788.61806 | 10.41920 | 10 | -1 |
| Tasmania6 | 519,050 | 164,788.61806 | 3.14979 | 5 | - |
| Australian Capital Territory7 | 419,256 | 164,788.61806 | 2.54420 | 3 | +1 |
| Northern Territory8 | 247,512 | 164,788.61806 | 1.50200 | 2 | - |
| Total number of members of the House of Representatives | 151 | +1 | |||
6Tasmania is guaranteed a minimum of five members under section 24 of the Constitution.
7Under sub-section 4(1) of the Electoral Act the Jervis Bay territory is taken to be part of the ACT. Under sub-section 48(2C) of the Electoral Act, Norfolk Island taken for the purposes of this determination to be part of the ACT because it lacks sufficient population to qualify for representation in its own right.
8Under sub-section 48(2C) of the Electoral Act, the territories of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island are taken for the purposes of this determination to be part of the Northern Territory because they lack sufficient population to qualify for representation in their own right.
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