WA electoral redistribution

July 21, 2007, 5:22pm, 353 views,  1 Comment

Submissions on the proposed new electoral boundaries for Western Australia under one-vote one-value close on July 30.

The commissioners have invited objections and comments on their proposed redistribution.

I have submitted an objection to the name of the Kalgoorlie-based seat being Goldfields. I have suggested it should remain Kalgoorlie for historical reasons and to better reflect the geography of the electorate.

Information about the redistribution is online here.

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Revive decentralisation

July 21, 2007, 2:37am, 263 views,  Leave a Comment

Up until the late 1970s the Labor Party and the Country Party were advocates of decentralisation. There was a commonly held belief that Australia’s population should not be too concentrated in the capital cities.

In 1966 Gough Whitlam delivered a speech in which he said that decentralisation was necessary to cut down “the vast social costs of the urban sprawl”.

Whitlam went on to develop a vision for the development of Albury-Wodonga as a major inland centre – a vision which has largely been achieved.

Decentralisation went out of favour under the treasury portfolios of John Howard and Paul Keating, who were economic rationalists, and the demise of the Country Party and DLP as political heavyweights.

There has never been a more important time in Australian history for decentralisation to be put back on the policy agenda. Read more

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