The federal electorate of Gippsland will be unchanged after the Australian Electoral Commission released its changes to Victoria’s boundaries.
Draft boundaries were released in May for public comment before the final outcome of the Victoria federal redistribution was announced last week. The augmented electoral commission accepted the redistribution committee’s proposal to abolish the division of Higgins in Melbourne and modify the boundaries of 11 electorates.
Gippsland, and the neighbouring electorate of Monash, were both considered to have a number of electors within the acceptable amount, and therefore boundary changes were not proposed.
Gippsland is considered the National Party’s safest federal seat in Victoria. Darren Chester, MP since winning a 2008 by-election, was re-elected in 2022 with a two-candidate preferred margin of 20.6 per cent.
Victoria went through a redistribution because the number of members of the House of Representatives it is entitled to has decreased from 39 to 38 due to slower rate of population growth compared to other states.
The changes will be officially determined and the report into the redistribution made publicly available on October 17. The new boundaries come into effect for the next federal election, due to be held next year.
