Commencement of the redistribution of federal electoral boundaries in the Northern Territory

A redistribution of the Northern Territory's two federal electoral divisions has now commenced.

The Australian Electoral Commissioner, Mr Tom Rogers said that the redistribution commenced on Thursday 15 October and an enrolment quota of 64 786 has been set.

"The enrolment quota is the first step in the redistribution process," Mr Rogers said. "When redrawn, each electoral division must have between 58 308 and 71 264 electors – that is, a margin of up to 10 per cent variation from the quota."

While the NT's electoral boundaries are being redrawn, the House of Representatives entitlement for the NT remains unchanged at two members.

The last redistribution of the NT was determined on 19 September 2008 and electoral legislation requires that a redistribution of federal electoral boundaries is to occur once seven years has elapsed since the last redistribution.

An independent Redistribution Committee will be appointed to undertake the redistribution in the NT and the Committee will be supported by a small secretariat of staff from the AEC.

Members of the public will be invited to submit their suggestions in early 2016 about where the electoral boundaries could be located, or the name of an electoral division. Guidelines are available to assist people or organisations interested in submitting their suggestions.

An indicative timetable for the federal redistribution process in the NT is available.

Editor's notes:

• A redistribution is a redrawing of boundaries to ensure that, as near as is practicable, there is a similar number of electors in each electoral division for a state or territory.
• The enrolment quota is determined by dividing the number of electors enrolled in the NT by 2, which is the number of House of Representative seats to which the NT will be entitled to at the next federal election.
• Further information about the NT redistribution or redistributions underway in WA, NSW and the ACT