AEC to move 370,000 Victorian voters to a new electorate

The Australian Electoral Commission's (AEC) proposed redistribution for the state would see 369,249 voters - 8.3 per cent of eligible voters in Victoria - pushed into a new electorate.

The inner Melbourne division of Higgins is earmarked for abolition, with its voters being absorbed by neighbouring divisions.

The AEC has to make sure its electoral divisions are representative, so each Member of Parliament is acting on behalf of a similarly sized constituency.

As a result, the commission uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to monitor population flows and project how many voters will be living in each division over the next four years.

Any division that's on track to have too many or too few voters needs to have its boundaries changed.

Under the rules, all Victorian divisions had to be on track to have between 122,785 and 131,691 voters by April 17, 2028.

When the AEC crunched the ABS figures it found Ballarat was tracking to have 124,120, which put it in the target range. But the same data showed neighbouring Bendigo would have just 121,056 voters by 2028, putting it well short.

To solve the imbalance, the AEC proposed to move more than a dozen towns from Ballarat into Bendigo.

The redistribution will shift nearly 1000 voters to Bendigo, affecting towns in the Hepburn Shire Council:

Ballarat is also set to lose 274 voters from the Golden Plains area on its south-east edge. Voters from Maude and Sutherlands Creek will likely be moved into the Division of Corio. Overall, Ballarat stands to lose 1200 voters, putting it just inside the target range for 2028.

But the extra voters from Ballarat still wouldn't be enough to get Bendigo into the "acceptable" range. The AEC said it would have to take some towns from the Division of Nicholls on its eastern edge.

According to the proposed new map for Bendigo, 897 voters from towns in Mitchell Shire Council would shift across, including:

The geographically huge electorate of Wannon - which covers the whole of south-west Victoria - will need to change more than nearly any division in Victoria.

The ABS data put the Liberal-held seat on track for just 119,402 voters by April 2028, thousands short of the target range.

The AEC said the best way to solve Wannon's shortfall was to push it eastward, taking voters from the Division of Corangamite, which covers the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.

The move will transfer 4355 voters into Wannon, with 1230 from Golden Plains Shire, including the towns of:

A further 3125 will be absorbed from the Surf Coast Shire, including:

ACM asked federal Member for Wannon Dan Tehan about the impact of moving thousands of voters into his electorate from a relatively safe Labor seat. He said he was happy with the AEC's impartial role.

"The AEC are the independent umpire. The most important thing is that communities of interest are maintained," Mr Tehan said.

"I'm still working through the slight changes that have been proposed. But in the end, I love representing the people of Wannon and I will do my very very best to ensure that I continue to represent people in the new boundaries to the best of my ability."

The change may assist Mr Tehan, rather than hurt him, at the next election. The booth results from the 2022 election suggest Wannon will be absorbing the more Liberal-leaning section of Corangamite.